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THE 



Political Condition of the Indians 



AND THE 



EBB i !i IMS mwm. 



J. H. MOORE 



ST. LOUIS: 
SOUTHWESTERN BOOK AND PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

510 AND 512 WASHINGTON AVENUE. 

18T4. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

J. H. MOORE, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 






^-7fJ5 



PREFACE 



In the preparation of this little book for the public, I have 
recognized the demands of the age for short essays, and have 
avoided lengthy description, and, as far as possible, technicali- 
ties, my aim being merely to give a plain account of the 
resources of the Indian Territory in as concise a manner as 
possible^ 

The views presented in the introductory chapter are 
gathered from personal observation, made during a residence 
of thirteen years in the Territory. They may be unpleasant 
to some of the Indian people, yet they cannot gainsay their 
truth, and those of them who know me, know that my life- 
interest is indissolubly connected with the Indian race by 
stronger ties than mere residence, and that these ties preclude 
sinister motives. 

I would see the Indian race ennobled — I would see them 
reach a higher civilization, and freed from the tyranny of a 
base prejudice. These are the motives which have induced 
me to write these pages, in hope that the truths which they 
unfold will apprise them of their duty as a people, and show 
them that they have resources which, if developed, will make 
the land to " bloom and blossom as the rose." 

J. H. MOORE. 

Boggy Depot, C. N., March 2, 1874. 



CONTENTS 





Page. 


Introductory Chapter, 


9 


Boundaries of Territory, 


10 


Geographical Position, 


11 


Political Status of Indians, .... 


12 


Intercourse Law, . . . 


12 


United States Court, 


12 


Religious Societies, 


14 


The Indian Question an Enigma, 


16 


How to Solve it, 


17 


Delegates to Washington, 


17 


Letters of a Prominent Claim Agent, 


19 


A Bit of History Connected with Indian Affairs, 


24 


Topographical Features, 


33 


Bottom Lands, . . . . 


34 


Timbered and Prairie Lands, .... 


34 


•Source of Red River and Canadian, . . . 


34 


A Pastoral Land, 


.35 


Winter Range, 


36 


Bois-d'Arc, or Osage Orange, . . . . * 


37 


" Wood of, uses, 


37 


" Seed of, uses, 


37 


How Indian Cattle Rate in Market, . 


38 


Sheep, 


38 


Hogs, 


38 



VI CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Fruits and Yegetables, S9' 

Market Facilities, . . . . . . . 39- 

Railways, 40 

Potatoes, Onions, Etc., 40 

Long Growing Period, 41 

Native Fruits, . . 41 

Pecans, 42 

Spring Rains, . . . . . . . '42 

Report upon Agricultural Resources of Territory, by a 

Committee of Okmulgee Council, ... 42: 

Cherokee Nation, 45 

Wheat Raising — Bushels to Acre in 1873, ... 46 

Lead Ore, 46 

Coal, 46 

Other Minerals, , . 47 

Canadian District, ....... 48 

Creek and Seminole Country, 49 

Choctaw and Chickasaw Country, .... 50 

Extent of, . 50 

Topography of, 51 

Gypsum Belt, . . . . . . . . 52 

Extent of, 52 

Wichita Mountains, 63 

Gold, * 5a 

Copper Ore, . 53 

Granite Belt, . . . . . . . . 54 

Kickapoo Flats, 54 

Paul's Yalley, 54 

Wheat— Bushels to Acre in 1873, .... 55 

Corn, 55 

Cotton, 55 

Copper Mine, ..... i .. 55 



CONTENTS. Vll 

Page. 

Oil Kegion, 55 

Oklahomo Mining Company, 56 

Mineral Tar, . 56 

Aspbaltum, . . . . . . . . ■ 56 

Pickens County, 57 

Oretaceous Rocks, 57 

Carboniferous Rocks, . . . . . . . 58 

Transition Age, 58 

Fossils, . . 58 

Coal Fields, 59 

Lead Ore, 59 

Extensive Coal Basin, . 60 



POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE INDIANS 



And the Resources of the ilndian Territory. 



INTKODUCTOKY CHAPTER. 



The Indian Territory is not unknown, in name or geographi- 
cal situation, to the merest schoolboy, yet further than this, to 
the generality of people, it may not be inaptly styled a Terra 
Incognita. To those who have watched the public press for 
the last few years it is certainly so, for though much has been 
written descriptive of its topography and the character of its 
people, no two accounts have been corroborative. Like the 
shield of the two knights, it has been viewed from opposite 
sides, and the coloring has been different. 

It is well known that, from the earliest advent of the white 
race upon the American continent, the Indian has gradually 
retreated before its march, till only a scattered few remain 
of that number which tradition says, was as countless as the 
leaves of the forest. But it is not the object of the author 
in this little book to give a history of these peculiar people — 
to follow them in their various wanderings — to recite their 
savage atrocities, or to whimper over their imaginary wrongfe ; 
bat to give, in a clear and concise way, a description of their 
country, its undeveloped resources, and the causes which have 
operated upon the Indians as a people, delaying their advance- 
ment, and prompting them to war upon civilization. The 
policy of the General Government at all times has neither 



10 Politioal Condition of the Indians 

been humane nor philosophical, but tolerating their primitive 
customs at one time and chiding at another. A false philan- 
thropy has dictated a political policy which is in nowise prac- 
ticable, even were it expedient. The Indian question, while it 
has ever had a department in the Government, has vacillated 
between the extremes of nefarious rapacity and injudicious 
forbearance. It has had to do with the Indians of the Plains as 
well'as the civilized tribes, and has made very little distinction 
between the two, the same principles having governed each; 
and the result is, that the more they have been encouraged in 
old customs the more formidable have they become as obstruc- 
tions in the way of progression. They have been brought to 
a degree of civilization and left there, with the idea that they 
are a peculiar people, and that the civilization of the whites, 
and intercourse with them, are dangerous to their tribal nation- 
alities. The old custom of holding lands in common is still 
in vogue, and any attempt at division and individualizing is 
used as being prejudicial rather than beneficial to the interest 
of the Indians. The worst feature, however, connected with 
the Indian business is their claims against the Government, and 
their invested funds held in trust by the Interior Department, 
the interest on which is paid annually for the maintenance of 
their governments. These make food for attorneys and claim 
agents, who congregate at Washington for no other purpose 
than to swindle them out of at least half of their money. 
These hints will do for a general understanding of the Indian 
question ; and we will begin with the Indian Territory proper, 
which comprises all that region of country lying south of 
Kansas, west of Arkansas, north of Texas, and east of the 
one hundredth meridian, and is inhabited by the five great 
Southern tribes of Indians, known as the Cherokees, Creeks, 
Seminoles, Choctaws, and Chickasaws, together with remnants 
of Northern tribes who have moved into the country from 
Kansas and other States in conformity with treaty stipulations; 
and to these may be added the predatory tribes, native to the 
country — viz. : Kiowae, Comanches, Apaches, etc. Its area is 
about ninety-five thousand square miles, with a population, at 
a fair estimate, of one hundred thousand. Its geographical 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 11 

position, when viewed from a stand-point of distance, from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific coast, is very nearly central ; and when 
we compare the immense area of the State of Texas with 
that of States lying north, its relative position from north to 
south will be about midway between the Gulf of Mexico and 
British America. 

When the termini of railways were reaching West only to 
such cities as St. Louis and Memphis, and the East and the 
South were the trade marts, the great unproducing West 
beyond the Mississippi was hardly considered a component of 
the Union, and was scarcely known, save to army officers and 
hardy pioneers. The old mode of traveling by wagon peopled 
the country slowly, consequently the domain of the Indian 
was not encroached upon very rapidly ; but now that the rail- 
way system has been extended to the Pacific coast, and branch 
roads are traversing in every direction the States and Terri- 
tories of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and New Mexico, the 
barrier of distance has been removed, and the once " Far 
West" is fast being peopled, and becoming the commercial 
centre of the continent ; and while the Indian country has not 
been encroached upon to any considerable extent, on account 
of the fostering care of the General Government, it has been 
viewed with a jealous and covetous eye, and several attempts 
have been made to induce Congress to open it for settlement, 
regardless of the wishes of the Indians ; and as it is more than 
probable that such a thing will be done at no distant time, it 
is fitting that its natural resources should be laid before the 
public. 

The resources of the American Continent are, as it were, 
but in embryo of development. Stretching away in the dis- 
tance are the vast plains and forests of the West, still clothed 
with the garb of primeval nature, holding the substance of 
crude material, which only needs the appliances of art to call 
into being untold millions of wealth ; and not the least con- 
spicuous of all this rich and beautiful country, which will one 
day be the cornucopia of America, standing in the pathway of 
civilization and progress, as some vast tidal wave, echoing the 



12 Political Condition of the Indians 

interdict of, " Hitherto shalt thou come^ hut no further^'' lies 
the Indian Territory, 

THE POLITICAL STATUS 

of which, in relation to the United States, is that of a proteg6 ; 
yet, by treaty stipulation, enjoying all the privileges of a semi- 
sovereignty, with the addition of pecuniary support. 

The continuance of these relations, however, under the 
system of national or tribal isolation, is hardly probable. 
Already it is the fixed purpose of the General Government to 
make no more treaties with Indians, and the gradual exten- 
sion of the revenue laws over them, and the transit of railways 
through their country, foretell the events of the future. 

It was thought necessary in times gone by that absolute 
protective measures should be inaugurated for the Indians, 
and in view of this suggestion Congress passed 

THE INTERCOURSE LAW, 

which forbade traflfic by the whites with'Indians, under heavy 
penalties, except as licensed traders, and this law, with its 
several amendments, is still in existence ; but, instead of re- 
dounding to the good of the Indians, as was, perhaps, the hon- 
est intention of those who framed it, it has served, in two ways, 
a 8 the cause of all their troubles and wrongs. In the first 
place, its interdictions to intercourse with the wnites has 
served as the great groundwork upon which the Indians them- 
selves have founded their own local laws, which are, in a high 
degree, prejudicial to the white race, thus fostering and per- 
petuating that Ishmaelitish spirit which has so long character- 
ized them as a people ; and though each of the civilized tribes 
have a well-filled statute, it is inoperative, or, as expressed in a 
vulgarism, a dead letter, except in so far as it applies to pro- 
hibitions. 

The second of its evil effects resulted from the establishment 
of the United States District Court at Yan Buren, and subse- 
quently at Fort Smith, Arkansas, which has been made, 
through deputy-marshals and attorneys, to deal largely in 
pettifoggery. Taking advantage of the isolated condition of 
the country, they have preyed alike upon Indians and upon 



And Besources of the Indian Territory. 1 3 

citizens of the United States, which was all the more easily 
done because from the criminal side of that court there is no 
appeal, and as every violation of the Intercourse Law is crim- 
inal, as a matter of course, every petty offence, which would 
not have been an offence committed out of the Indian country, 
has afforded them food for speculation. The following edito- 
rial, taken from the Fort Smith Herald of November 1, 1873, 
will partly explain some of these evils : 

" We published last week a letter from the Washington cor- 
respondent of the New York Sun, purporting to give the 
result of the investigation made here last summer by Mr. 
Whitney, of the Secret Service department of the United 
States treasury — a department unknown in the days of honest 
and pure governments. 

" For several years past, and particularly for the last two 
years, the affairs of this district have been wretchedly man- 
aged. Immense sums of money have been expended by the 
marshals — more than in any other judicial district in the 
United States — and yet the public have been but little bene- 
fited. Since the court has been located here the circulation 
of money has not been increased to any appreciable extent, 
although $20,000 or more were spent to carry the last election. 

" The last November term of the court collected in town a 
very large number of persons as parties, witnesses and jurors ; 
the court was in session from November to February, and there 
was no money paid out — marshal's checks were the only pay re- 
ceived. These depreciated to about thirty cents on the dollar, 
and are yet unredeemed. The boarding-house-keepers who fed 
the crowd brought hither by the court were compelled to re- 
ceive these checks, and the consequence is, that what ought to 
have been a means of wealth to the town tended actually to 
impoverish it. That there have been gross mismanagement and 
corruption cannot be doubted. The Treasury department has 
sent an agent here to examine into the matter. He has taken 
the testimony of a great number of witnesses, and made his 
report to the Attorney-General. The correspondent above 
mentioned states that he has reported that marshals, deputy- 
marshals and district-attorneys have been guilty of forgery, 

bribery, and screening of criminals. 

****** -Sf 

" It is to be hoped that Whitney's investigations here will 

lead to the exposure and punishment of those who are guilty. 

" We want a court here ; it is necessary to have it for the 



14 Political Condition of the Indians 

punishment of offenders and the execution of the laws. But 
to be effective it must command the respect and confidence of 
the people. It should be pure. We are sorry to say that the 
court has attracted attention throughout the country by the 
continual complaints and charges made against it. A thorough 
ventilation of the whole concern is needed, and all guilty of 
the corruptions, peculations and frauds charged to exist should 
be summarily punished. This is an absolute necessity for the 
honor of the Government. 

" Vouchers issued by the Court Commissioners to witnesses 
and jurors are hawked about the streets and cannot find pur- 
chasers at thirty cents on the dollar ; and yet over a quarter 
of a million of dollars is said to be expended here annually by 
the Marshal's office. 

" We shall look forward impatiently for the report of Mr. 
Whitney, and shall insist upon the punishment of the guilty ; 
but in the meantime we should have no vague generalities, 
which censure innocent and guilty alike. 

" A court which does not have the respect or confidence of 
the people, and is under the censure of Congress, should be 
looked after." 

It should be remembered, in connection with this extract, 
that while no specification of cases is made, the bulk of the 
business of this court arises from crime committed in the Ter- 
ritory, or rather, we should have said, petty offences, for those 
deserving the charge of crime are too often allowed to go 
unpunished. 

Such have been the wrongs which have grown out of a 
misdirected philanthropy for Indian Governments, a riddance 
of which is only to be looked for in the happy time when the 
laws of Congress shall have taken precedence of tribal 
governments. 

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. 

Perhaps no subject which has engrossed the attention of 
Christian Societies has been so prolific of sympathy as that 
which relates to the rights and wrongs of the Indian people. 
Certainly there is no field of broader area where Christian sym- 
pathy and work is more needed ; yet it is questionable whether 
this very sympathy, in the spirit in which it has been expressed, 
has not retarded in a great degree the civilization of the Indians. 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 15 

The Indians have two kinds of civilization to undergo — one 
religious, the other political ; and as there is no medium 
ground allowable to the first, there should be none to the 
latter. The existence of one is dependent upon the other, for 
religious freedom is nothing more nor less than political free- 
dom, and vice versa ; yet the disposition is to pander the reli- 
gious to the whims and prejudices of old customs, which savor 
more of barbarism than of civilization ; and those Societies 
which have acted in accord with what is known as the " Peace 
Policy," under the direction of the Indian Department, have 
had a tendency to encourage rather than to dissipate the 
antipathy toward the white race. Actuated with a spirit of 
fanaticism, or a false conception of Indian character, they have 
endeavored to establish a government for Indians upon theory 
instead of common sense. Experiment after experiment is 
suggested and tried, and in every instance fails, because 
incompatible with the true principles of stability, or, in other 
words, they are ever in a chrysalis state, without the prospect 
of further development. This difficulty is fully realized and 
fairly acknowledged by the Indians themselves, by a commit- 
tee of ten, authorized and appointed by the Okmulgee General 
Council, " To devise a permanent organization of the Indian 
Territory^ as contemplated by the treaties of 1866." 

The committee says : 

" The opposition of all Indians to any form of territorial 
government that has been proposed by the Congress of the 
United States, is too notorious to require any comment. It is 
firmly and ineradicably imbedded in their very nature. They 
cling to their homes, to their laws, to their customs, to their 
national and personal independence, with the tenacity of life 
itself. In these sentiments your committee fully concur. And 
while the leading powers invested in this General Council per- 
vade all the treaties negotiated in 1866 by the United States 
with the difierent nations here represented, each one of them 
grants some important concession, or retains some important 
right not to be found in others. In some respects they merely 
shadow dimly the duties of this Council, instead of clearly 
defining its powers and authority. The responsibility of inex- 
perienced legislators, instead of being simplified by them, is 
made more difficult and complex." — Journal of the General 
Council [Printed Edition], 1871, page 23. 



16 Political Condition of the Indians 

Here we see that this very policy, which resolves itself 
merely into a question of isolation or independence, becomes 
to the Indians, what it does to others, a political enigma ; yet, 
with all the lessons of the past, it has been, that when a reli- 
gious society has taken charge of an Indian tribe to promote 
its civilization, as a political measure, the pandering to old 
customs begins, and every idea of a government is conceived 
antagonistic to the Constitution of the United States, and the 
result is, that by the establishment of these petty indepen- 
dencies the Indians are impressed more and more with prin- 
ciples of alienation. The author has no motive in making 
these assertions other than a convincing one — that they are en- 
tailing political incompatibilities upon the Indian race, which, 
when innovated upon, culminate in Modoc tragedies ; and he 
wars not upon the moral, but upon that procedure of the In- 
dian policy which the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in his 
Eeport for 1872, is pleased to style, "A policy — not a policy — 
only temporizing." Considering moral suasion, and having 
due respect to all its higher attributes, fault is only found with 
its inconsistency as it relates to the political management of 
tribes. It proposes the organization of a form of government 
which, though it claims to be a pattern after the Constitution 
of the United States, is in its every letter incompatible there- 
with ; yet the great point or aim is to prepare them for it as 
the ultimatum. We do not enhance a child's idea of language 
by fondling it with nursery talk, nor can it be expected that, 
by other than a perfect system, the Indian will have due con- 
ception of those moral attributes which will come of a proper 
course of civilization ; for when, upon the induction of differ- 
ent customs and manners, we pander them to the relics of bar- 
barism, they fail of that salutary influence which was the first 
objective intent. Nowhere within the vocabulary of national 
politics do we find such a variance of opinion on any one 
subject as exists in different circles pertaining to this Indian 
question, yet none so easy of solution when we narrow it down 
to Congressional legislation. Of the many propositions to 
modify the Indian question, or in some way extricate the gov- 
ernment from the dilemma which now envelopes it, the author 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 17 

has seen nothing more singularly absurd than what purports 
to be a recommendation to Congress by the present Commis- 
sioner, explained in the following editorial from the New York 
Mercantile Journal^ of November 29, 1873 : 

" Indian Citizenship. — The Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
has made an excellent suggestion in recommending to Congress 
that individual Indians shall be allowed to become citizens of 
the United States, with all the rights and privileges and im- 
munities pertaining to citizenship. The custom has been to 
require the assent of the tribe before any member of it could 
be naturalized, but this operates directly to place the more 
civilized under the control of the less advanced. Any one 
Indian who may desire to make himself a citizen should be at 
liberty to do so ; and the Commissioner thinks that many, if 
naturalized, would enter into farming, grazing, or mining 
enterprises. But the Canadian method of dealing with In- 
dians is far better. They are recognized and treated as citi- 
zens — as men and women belonging to and forming a part of 
the community — not as foreigners or outlaws. If an Indian 
wrongs a white man, he is punished ; if a white man wrongs an 
Indian, he is punished. Both are tried by the same court and 
judged by the same law ; and the result of the treatment is 
that a Canadian can ride from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to 
the Pacific Ocean without feeling himself in danger from an 
aborigine. When we come in this country to recognize in the 
Indians men and brethren, and to administer for them the 
same justice we exact from them, we shall have very little 
trouble with them." 

Why prevaricate at all? Why not adopt at once the 
" Canadian method ?" Why not recognize that it is the con- 
flict of power, not of race, that has given the question its 
bloody record ? It may be all very well to talk of Indian 
nationalities and to theorize on constitutions which will best ac- 
cord with their nature, but the line of demarcation must be 
broad and strong that shall give them peace and harmony. 

DELEGATES TO WASHINGTON. 

The system inaugurated many years ago, of sending dele- 
gates to Washington, is still kept up by most of the tribes, and 
is a continual drain upon the national treasuries, without 
yielding good results. The people at home are generally igno- 
rant of what these delegates are doing, and it is not until the 



18 Political Condition of the Indians 

annual meeting of their councils that their business is made 
known. Then appear those glowing accounts of a successful 
mission, the good results of which, however, are always to be 
realized in the future. These fine reports are gotten up by 
their several attorneys, and serve as means to dupe the poor 
ignorant Indians at home, about whom they make so much 
ado, and in whose interest they labor so zealously when 
abroad. These delegates oppose every progressive move, such 
as sectionizing and division of lands, yet they offer no other 
mode of progression to their poor, benighted countrymen, and 
the civilization of the full- blood Indian is the same to-day that 
it was sixty years ago. Nothing more miserable could be im- 
agined than the destitute condition of the mass of the full- 
bloods; yet when any means is proposed for their advancement, 
those of their own people, who hold petty offices and play 
delegate, raise the howl of persecution and speculation, and 
charge the move to railroad corporations, and this is echoed 
back again by Humanitarian Societies in the East. These 
societies, however, have been imposed upon, and if they would 
know the actual state of affairs in this country, they should 
send out a trustworthy committee upon whose report they can 
rely. In the meantime, as corroborative of the above state- 
ments, let them examine a report made to the Forty-second 
Congress, by Gen. J. P. C. Shanks, congressman from Indiana, 
and chairman of a committee authorized to investigate Indian 
frauds. Herein lies the great wall of obstruction to the fur- 
ther progress of the Indian people, as it is the policy of both 
delegates and attorneys to keep the mass of the people in 
ignorance ; and managing to keep them in statu quo, they are 
ever ready with their bulky memorials to cite parts of obsolete 
treaties, and to appeal to humanity, when there is a sensible 
move in Congress to give them a better form of government. 
Of the vast amounts appropriated by Congress in satisfaction 
of these claims, the lawyers and delegates get the lion's share, 
and sometimes the whole amount, as is instanced in an award 
to the Choctaws in 1860, by the Senate, of $500,000, in part 
payment of their net proceeds claim, involving the sum of 
$2,332,560 85. Of this $500,000 appropriated, one-half was 



And Besources of the Indian Territory. 19 

to be in United States bonds and one-half in money. The 
bonds were never issued, but the money half was paid in gold, 
and the delegates and attorneys got it all, not one cent ever 
reaching the proper owners. The remainder due under this 
claim is still before Congress for appropriation, and is claimed 
by two separate sets of delegates and attorneys. 

Commissioner Walker, in his report for 1872, page 12, 
under a sub-head entitled, " The Practical Side of the Indian 
Question," referring to the passage of claims and appropria- 
tions, remarks: 

" I know of no stronger proof that could be offered for the 
satisfaction of the country that the Indian policy of the 
government, notwithstanding so much about it that appears 
whimsical and contradictory, is really to be justified on com- 
mon-sense principles, than the fact that for several years bills 
making appropriations for the necessarily heavy expenditures 
involved, have run the gauntlet of the appropriation commit- 
tees of both House and Senate, without losing a single original 
feature of value. No one who understands the constitution 
of those committees, and knows their readiness to slaughter 
any provision for any service which cannot give an unmistak- 
able reason for itself, will need stronger assurance than when 
the details of the Indian policy come to be explained, point 
by point, to men versed in public affairs and in the methods 
of business, they are found to be based upon good practical 
reasons, and not upon theories or sentiments." 

The Commissioner seems to be very innocent in his exulta- 
tion over the bills which he refers to as passing " without 
losing a single original feature of value ;" but, perhaps, he was 
not aware of having been the dupe of some *' ring," who 
pocketed the money after its appropriation. The Indian busi- 
ness, however, may be purer now than in antehellum times, 
as are the other departments of the government. As a criterion 
of how it was carried on in 1856-57-58, we extract a few let- 
ters, written by a prominent claim agent of Washington city, 
from the addenda to a memorial by Albert Pike, to the Choc- 
taw Council, bearing date October 1, 1869 : 

Washington, October 2, 1856. 
Dear Sir : I have no information yet from General Cooper 
as to the time I should be in the Choctaw Nation, though I 



20 Political Condition of the Indians 

feel sure he must be now in New Orleans, or well on his way 
there, to get the funds. For particular reasons, I know I must 
be- at the agency some little time prior to the Ist proximo. I 
have, therefore, but a brief period before starting ; so that if I 
put off longer the fulfilment of my promise to write and let 
you know when I shall be in Little Rock, it would be useless 
to write at all, as I should reach there as soon as a letter. I 
have no doubt of hearing from General Cooper immediately 
on his arrival at New Orleans, probably to-morrow or next 
day ; and my calculation is to start in time to reach the Rock 
by about the middle of the month, at farthest, by which time, 
I presume, you will certainly be there. 

Before leaving here you kindly offered me a seat in your 
carriage out to the Nation. You then expected to go out for 
Lea, but as it has become absolutely necessary for him to go 
out himself — and he is going — of course there will be no 
occasion for you to go. As a matter of policy and prudence, 
1 had concluded not to accept your invitation. Our going 
together would attract attention ; it would be speculated on, 
and probably be reported or become known here, and confirm 
such allegations as those in Gardner's letter. Mischief would 
certainly be the result. It might affect not only the Choctaw 
business, but also the Creek. It would be concluded, of course, 
that we are associated in the Choctaw business, and, if in that, 
in the Creek also. This may seem rather far-fetched to you, 
but if you were as familiar as I am in the tortuosities of mis- 
chief-makers in Indian matters, it would not. Once let there 
be some plausible ground for a conclusion or even suspicion that 
we are at the bottom of the Choctaw and Creek business, and 
every effort would be made to head us off in both. The plan 
is to manage all these matters as unpretendingly and quietly, 
as slyly, if you please, as possible. Hence, although it is highly 
desirable to Lea, especially on account of his physical disa- 
bility, to go out with me, I will not consent to it. We must 
go separately, at different times, and by different routes, at 
least from here. I shall go alone, though it may happen acci- 
dentally that Pitchlynn will be going about the same time. 
I am going to northeastern Texas, where a hrother-in-law of 
mine owns some lands that want looking after, though I have 
husiness that will probably take me into the Choctaw country. 

I take it for granted, it was only on account of Lea's busi- 
ness you thought of going to the Choctaw country, and not 
with reference to the Choctaw business. I presume there can 
be no misunderstanding between us in regard to that. In the 
only conversations between us as to our relations in it — when 



And Resmtrces of the Indian Territory. 21 

you wanted to know whether I considered you had any inter- 
est in it — I readily assented, notwithstanding all that had been 
accomplished without you, that you should have an interest in 
it equal to my own, whatever that might finally be; it being 
my understanding, and I suppose, of course, yours, that you 
should aid and assist in getting it through ; but I excepted 
that already accomplished, viz., the $400,000 claim, which was 
started by neither of us, which you did not assist in at all, and 
I only in part, and the interest in which, as I told you, I did 
not consider I had the right to control. In regard to that I 
told you I could make no promise ; but whatever others hav- 
ing the best right to decide were willing to, I was. Frankly, 
under all the circumstances of the case, I do not think you 
have a just claim to participate in it ; but if, from our original 
association in the business, and of a reliance by you on me to 
conduct the business in your absence (though that very ab- 
sence rendered it necessary to bring others in, and thus dimin- 
ish the profits), if for these or other reasons you think difi'er- 
ently, just make me out a memorandum of your views on the 
subject, which I can have when I reach the Rock, and I will 
bring it forward for consideration when the relative rights of 
all the parties concerned come to be determined on. For 
myself, 1 want to do not only what is just and right, but what 
is liberal toward you. 

Hoping to have the pleasure of seeing you at the Rock, I 
remain, 

Yery respectfully, your friend and obedient servant, 

J. T. COCHRANE. 

Capt. A. Pike, Little Rock, Arkansas. 

Fort Towson, November, 18, 1856. 
Dear Sir: I have succeeded in getting my business arranged, 
after greater delay and difficulty than I imagined. I had op- 
position, which was at one time formidable, and in order to 
overcome it and make all things right and smooth, for the 
present and future both, I have had to incur heavier expenses 
than I anticipated. The consequence is, that the dividend is 
considerably reduced. For your share I inclose two certifi- 
cates of deposit, $5,000 each ($10,000), of the Southern Bank 
at New Orleans, in favor of Heald, Massie & Co., and indorsed 
by them, and numbered 155 and 156. In order to arrange to 
get this exchange there had to be an understanding that these 
certificates would not be presented till the expiration of sixty 
days from date — not before the 12th proximo. Please arrange 
ccordingly. The amount I remit is a full and equal share, 



22 Political Condition of the Indians 

except in one case — viz., the person who originated the claim 
to lands west of 100°, and who claimed and contended for the 
lion's share, which, in order to avoid unpleasant controversy 
and difficulty, I conceded. I trust you will be satisfied, as, 
with the exception of that case, you stand upon an equal foot- 
ing with the other distributees. Please acknowledge receipt 
of inclosed to me at Georgetown, District of Columbia, as I 
start for home to-morrow. I go by Gaines' Landing, and shall 
carry. this with me and mail it at Washington, Arkansas. 

I have learned from a Chocktaw, residing near Tucka- 
hatchee, where the Creeks held their council, that they have 
voted your fee on $800,000, viz., $200,000. Though I am not 
anxious about it, I would like to know how much I will prob- 
ably realize out of it, if you can make any calculation. I pre- 
sume it will not be necessary for me to come out to aid you in 
collecting or to receive my share. I hope you will be in Wash- 
ington to aid us with the big Choctaw claim. 
Yours, truly and faithfully, 

J. T. COCHRANE. 

A. Pike, Esq., Little Rock, Arkansas. 

Washington, December, 30, 1857. 

Dear Sir ;****** 
Nothing doing in Choctaw matters. We are waiting for Luce, 
who has not yet arrived, and who you know has now the con- 
trol of the business, it being absolutely necessary for both you 
and myself to keep in the background. There may not, there- 
fore, be any necessity for your being here for some time yet. 
As soon as there is I will let you know. 

Yery respectfully your friend and obedient servant, 

J. T. COCHRANE. 

A. Pike, Esq. 

Washington, January 18, 1858. 

Dear Sir : Yours of the 4th instant was duly received, and 
I did not immediately reply to it because I had anticipated 
your inquiry about coming here, in a letter which ought to 
have reached you before Major Rector left New Orleans. I 
regret that it did not, as it contained reasons why I yet wished 
him to modify his special report respecting the Creek and 
Seminole payments, and a request that you would speak to 
him on the subject, if you thought proper. The Major arrived 
here only yesterday. I have said nothing to him in regard to 
the matter, and feel a delicacy in doing so after his positive 
refusal to comply with my request in writing. 

Not a step has been taken in the Choctaw business yet. I 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 25 

am waiting for Luce, who ought to have been here weeks ago, 
as he promised. For prudential reasons, as I explained to you, 
I transferred the formal management of the matter to him. It 
is known that I have already collected a considerable amount 
from the Choctaws, and you from the Creeks. There are per- 
sons watching the Choctaw matter, and if you or myself appear 
prominent in it, the large sums we have collected will be 
referred to, and our connection with it used to prejudice it. 
Hence it was better to have a fresh man to take the lead. 
Another reason for selecting Luce was that I wished it to come 
up as a sort of Arkansas matter, with which no one in par- 
ticular was connected — no claim-agent ; and that Luce, as an 
Arkansas man and a friend of Sebastian's, being here on other 
business (Creek bounty-land claims), was simply aiding him in 
making the investigation, etc. There is still another reason: 
You recollect in Iverson's letter to me at the Creek agency, 
he made a sort of threat that your and my Choctaw business 
might be injured if certain facts in regard to the distribution 
of the Creek fee got out ; meaning, of course, if the proposi- 
tion he made in that letter was not complied with. I wrote 
him a full and judicious reply, in which I stated that the con- 
trol of the Choctaw matter had passed from my hands, and 
was now in those of a personal and political friend of the Sena- 
tor from Arkansas ; knowing or believing that he would not 
work against a matter in which such a friend of theirs was so 
interested. He has never noticed my reply, which looks as 
though he was not satisfied, though intended to satisfy him, 
so far as I was concerned. As he has treated my letter thus 
slightingly, I have not gone to see him. If he is hostile, he is 
doubtless watching the Choctaw matter, and the first move- 
ment made in it, he will want to know where it comes from. 
Hence I have been precluded from taking any step in regard 
to it in the absence of Luce, whose arrival may certainly be now 
counted on daily. As soon as he comes, the course will be to 
have him get Sebastian to have a resolution of the proper kind 
adopted, referring the matter to the Department of the Interior. 
It will, of course, go to the Indian Office. Mix being Acting 
Commissioner, Luce and I can make up the right sort of a 
report for him, and through Sebastian, Johnson, and Fitz- 
patrick, can probably bring influence sufficient to bear on the 
Secretary to induce him to adopt it. This will serve as the 
basis of the action of the Committee in the Senate, and if the 
thing can be worked along in this way there ought not to be 
much difficulty in that body. 

In this view of the case, I don't see that there is any necessity 



24 Political Condition of the Indians 

for your being here before the matter has been sent back from 
the Department to the Senate. I think Luce and I can work 
it quietly and successfully along till then. When it gets back 
there you might aid efficiently in making up Sebastian's report, 
and then in effecting its adoption by the Senate. I would 
be glad to have you here during the whole progress of the 
matter, but there is no use of your being here, at the heavy 
sacrifice it subjects you to, when there is no real necessity, and 
I would be reluctant to notify you to come until such a neces- 
sity arises. But, as the matter stands, there may, and pro- 
bably will, not be any such necessity for your presence for 
some six weeks, or it may be two months. Whenever it 
reaches a point where you can strike in effectually or advan- 
tageously, I will not fail to let you know, as I am really 
getting very tired of it, and am anxious, by bringing every 
available influence to bear, to have it disposed of during the 
present session. 

Truly your friend, 

J. T. COCHRANE. 
A. Pike, Esq. 

A BIT OF HISTORY CONNECTED WITH INDIAJT AFFAIRS. 

Perhaps no question in the internal policy of the United 
States Government has attracted more attention or afforded 
greater food for speculation than that which pertains to the In- 
dian people. Their condition in war and in peace has ever 
engaged attention, from the first Colonial legislation, in 1775, 
to the present session of Congress, 1874. 

Legislation in Indian matters began June 30th, 1775, the 
Colonial Congress passing the following : 

^^Resohed, That the Committee for Indian Affairs do pre- 
pare proper talks to the several tribes of Indians, for engaging 
the continuance of their friendship to us, and neutrality in 
our present unhappy dispute with Great Britain." 

After which the same Congress, July 12th, 1775, created 

" Three departments of Indians — the northern, middle, and 
Bouthern. The northern to extend so far south as to include 
the whole of the Indians known by the name of the Six Na- 
tions, and all the Indians northward of those nations. The 
southern department to extend so far north as to include the 
Cherokees, and all the Indians that may be to the southward 



And Resources the Indian Territory. 25 

of them. The middle to contain the Indians nations that lie 
between the other two departments. 

" That five commissioners be appointed for the southern 
department. 

" That for each of the other two departments there be ap- 
pointed three commissioners." 

By this legislation we see that the Government, while in its 
incipiency, assumed control over all Indians within the juris- 
diction of the Colonies ; and, while acting under the dictates 
of a prudent political policy, kindness and forbearance marked 
the legislation which pertained to their management, for ere 
the Declaration of Independence was read, or the glad shout 
was given which told that a nation was born, Congress, Feb- 
ruary 5th, 1776, promufgated the following: 

^^ Resolved, That a friendly commerce between the people 
of the United Colonies and the Indians, and the propagation 
of the gospel, and the cultivation of the civil arts among the 
latter, may produce many and inestimable advantages to both; 
and that the Commissioners for Indian Affairs be desired to 
consider of proper places, in their respective departments, for 
the residence of ministers and schoolmasters, and report the 
same to Congress." 

Then, as now, we see that the policy of the Government 
was peace, and began a system, existing to this day, peculiar 
in its workings and anomalous in its character. 

The treaties made at this early date were very simple and 
unincumbered by promises, merely establishing peace and 
friendship, and prescribing the metes and bounds of hunting 
grounds. As time wore on, and the population of the new 
Republic began to increase, the different States found it neces- 
sary to petition Congress to either allow them jurisdiction 
over the Indians, or remove them within certain limits. The 
influence of these petitions gave rise to that species of ces- 
sion of Indian lands that extinguished title by treaty. This 
species of cession has assiduously been kept up to this day, 
from New York to Kansas, each successive treaty giving 
more promises and concessions on the part of the Government. 

As early as February 3, 1820, James Barbour, then Secre- 
tary of War, in his official report suggested a bill for establish- 
3 



26 Political Condition of the Indians 

ing a territorial government over the Indians west of the 
Mississippi, the principal points of which were — 

"A territorial government to be maintained by the United 
States. 

" If circumstances shall eventually justify it, the extinction 
of tribes and their amalgamation into one mass, and a distri- 
bution of property among the individuals." 

The Secretary, in his remarks on the particular features of 
the Mll^ says : 

" The third object of the bill is, the establishing of a terri- 
torial government by the iTnited States for their protection 
and their civilization. The bill proposes a governor, three 
judges, and a secretary, to be appointed by the President, with 
the advice and consent of the Senate, and such modification in 
detail as the President shall ordain, subject to the approbation 
of Congress." 

"A fourth object of the bill is, the division of their lands in 
such manner, and at such times, as the President may think 
proper. The object of this provision is to give the power to 
the President, when, in his ju(%ment circumstances will justify 
it, to distribute the land among the individuals by metes and 
bounds in contradistinction to its being held in common by a 
tribe. Nothing, it is believed, has had a more injurious influ- 
ence on our efibrts to improve the condition of the Indians 
than holding their land in common. Whether such a system 
may succeed on a very limited scale, is yet to be ascertained. 
Past experience has left the strongest evidence against its 
practicability under less favorable anspices. The attempt of 
that kind in the first settlement of Virginia, and, I believe, in 
the early settlements elsewhere, conducted the colonists to the 
very brink of ruin, from which they were rescued only by 
abandoning it. The distribution of the soil, and the individu- 
ality imparted to the avails of its cultivation, history informs 
us, instantly gave a new and favorable aspect to their condi- 
tion. ^ ***** * 
If, therefore, the position be a just one, that every attempt at 
a community of property has eventuated unsuccessfully, even 
with civilized man, it is no matter of wonder that it should 
have been equally so with the savage. * * * 

" To those advantages may be added the consideration, that 
after an individual distribution, the efi'ort of the whites to 
dispossess them of their lands thus held must cease. The 
individual appropriation of land gives a sanctity to the titla 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 27 

which inspires respect in nations the most barbarous. It would 
repress, with us, any thought of disturbing it. When this is 
effected, the distinction of tribes may f easily be abolished, 
and the whole consolidated into one great family. * * * 
" I will add, that the end proposed is the happiness of the 
Indians ; the instrument of its accomplishment — their pro- 
gressive, and, finally, their complete civilization. The 
obstacles to success are their ignorance, their prejudices, 
their repugnance to labor, their wandering propensities, and 
the uncertainty of the future." 

Had Mr. Barbour lived in our time, and indited the above 
for present consideration, he could not more correctly have 
depicted the wants, or delineated the character of the Indians. 
Is it not surprising that their condition and wants are the same 
in our day as in his ? 

Mr. Thos. L. McKenney, of the Indian Office, in a report to 
the Secretary the year previous — December 13, 1825 — referring 
to a similar change in their condition, says : 

" Indeed, those of them [the Indians] who have thought 
most upon this subject, who feel, with the return of every 
year, the swell of the same ocean that has swept off' so many 
of their tribes breaking at their feet, have no objection to 
pass at once under the laws of the States, and into perma- 
nent repose, except that which arises out of their apprehension 
that a portion of their people are not yet jprepa/red for it." 

The phrase italicised by the Commissioner has in our day 
become a stereotyped one, in so far as evading any proposition 
in Congress to pass a territorial bill. 

The evasion, however, is hatched up by delegates, and the 
attorneys who work with them in Washington, for no other 
purpose than to prolong their own swindling schemes. It is 
true, in one sense of the word, that the masses are not yet 
prepared, but it has been a settled determination on the part 
of these delegates and attorneys, from that day to this, that 
the masses should not be prepared. Few people know how 
Indian treaties are made, or where the large gifts of goods 
and moneys go when appropriated ; and as we have already 
intimated that the full-blood Indian got but a small propor- 
tion, if any, we will introduce a few extracts from the times 



28 Political Condition of the Indians 

of long ago, and see how the Indian business has worked up 
to the present time. A letter, dated Nashville, October 30, 
1818, addressed to J. 0. Calhoun, Secretary of War, and signed 
Isaac Shelby and Andrew Jackson, says: 

" We had the pleasure, on the 23d instant, to address you, 
in which we made known to you that on the 19th we had the 
good fortune to conclude a treaty with the Chickasaw Nation 
of Indians, by which they have ceded to the United States all 
claim or title to the land within the States of Kentucky and 
Tennessee. ********* 

" The Colberts yielded the nation, and of course laid several 
hundred per cent, on their own influence. The reserves sug- 
gested themselves to us. * * * * * * * 
We would suggest that Martin Colbert go on to the city to 
await the ratification of the treaty. General Jackson has as- 
sured him that as soon as the ratification of the treaty takes 
place, Mr. Thomas Keikman will advance him the goods, and 
has instructed Mr. James Jackson to advise him accordingly. 

" We can assure you that without this douceur we could not 
have obtained the treaty." 

A report of House Committee on Indian afi'airs, made Feb- 
ruary 24, 1830, has the following : 

" Those of them who have been the fathers as well as the 
chiefs of their people, as in former times, will receive the 
public sympathy ; but their power of doing good, and of en- 
'oying the love of their people, will not be taken from them, 
"hat there may be some such, the committee believes; but 
that in general, in the Southern tribes, avarice, and a corrupt 
love of power, have supplanted everything that claimed res- 
pect in the former practice of their chiefs, the committee are 
well satisfied. In all these tribes it appears that a very small 
number of artful and ambitious men, and sometimes white 
men, thrust themselves into the management of their afi'airs, 
and, secretly or openly, become absolute in the direction of 
them. The personal consequence which follows the possession 
of power everywhere may be some inducement to seek this 
pre eminence; but the annuity system will, perhaps, be found 
to be the great source of corruption among the principal 
Indian chiefs. To have the control and distribution of them 
is believed to be the highest object of ambition with the great 
number of them. ******** 

" They appear, also, to have established something in the 



T 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 29 

nature of a loan office or bank, in which are deposited the 
funds arising from the annuities payable by the Government, 
and these are loaned out among themselves or their favorites. 
The committee have not been able to learn that the common 
Indians have shared any part of the annuities of the tribe for 
many years. The number of those who control the Govern- 
ment are understood not to exceed twenty-five or thirty per- 
sons * * * * * * * * -x- * 

" The same causes which have contributed to elevate the 
character and increase the comforts of the mixed race, have 
tended to diminish the means of subsistence among the Indians 
of purer blood. Victims alike to the worthless white men from 
without, and to the crafty policy of their own rulers within, 
they have become a naked, miserable, and degraded race." 

It seems almost incredible that the condition so graphically 
depicted by the committee should apply at this day to the 
same people, at the expiration of forty-four years ; yet will it 
not seem singularly strange, though true, that the very causes 
which were at work to produce it have still an abiding place 
in the lap of our most benevolent and Christian societies, 
located in the hearts of our most flourishing cities. Hear 
what the committee further say, and then let them drape 
themselves in sackcloth and ashes : 

"If this representation of the condition of common Indians 
shall appear too highly colored, when contrasted with those 
glowing pictures of their happy and improving condition, with 
which the Christian world has been so long cheered, the com- 
mittee can only say, in explanation, that both sides of the 
picture may still be substantially true when viewed in refer- 
ence to distinct classes. As wealth and a higher complexion 
do not necessarily imply any great degree of moral cultivation, 
it is probable that the resident missionary teachers have found 
an ample field for their labors among the more fortunate por- 
tion of the tribe. They, as well as the benevolent traveler, 
may have regarded the higher class as a nucleus around which 
they might finally bring the naked and hungry wanderers 
whom they rarely saw, except about the farms and doors of 
the wealthy, gradually to arrange and form themselves, by the 
observance and practice of the customs and arts of civilized 
life. With such anticipations, however delusive, if the abject 
condition of the mass has been veiled from the public view, 
the pious fraud may be excused, if not justified." 



30 Political Condition of the Indians 

We may say, that from that day to this the " abject condi- 
tion of the mass has been veiled from the public view," and 
by the same means which induced the House committee to 
style it a " pious fraud." But hear, again, what the commit- 
tee say, when speaking of the emigration of the Indians west : 

" The most active and extraordinary means have been em- 
ployed to misrepresent the intentions of the Government on 
the one hand, and the condition of the Indians on the other. 
The vivid representations of the progress of Indian civilization, 
which have been so industriously circulated by the party among 
themselves opposed to emigration, and by their agents, have had 
the effect of engaging the sympathies and exciting the zeal of 
many benevolent individuals and societies, who have mani- 
fested scarcely less talent than perseverance in resisting the 
views of the Government. Whether those who have been 
thus employed can claim to have been the most judicious 
friends of the Indians, remains to be tested by time." 

As we who favor allotment of lands, and the passage of a 
territorial bill by Congress, are divided and accused of favor- 
ing land speculation, so were those, in 1830, who favored the 
emigration of the Indians; but the committee appealed to 
time for the truth of their assertions, and time has come and 
bears them record that they were right. These benevolent 
societies may ask themselves whether they are now " the most 
judicious friends of the Indians." The committee further say, 
that " The effect of these indications of favor and protection 
has been to encourage them in the most extravagant preten- 
sions. They have been taught to have new views of their 
rights." 

If there were no other reasons why a change in the policy 
of the Government toward the political status of Indian tribes 
should be inaugurated, the very facts herein set forth, and 
known to have been in operation for a long period of years, are 
sufficient of themselves, when it can be unequivocally asserted 
that they are still in force, and that the policy of benevolent 
societies are made use of, by delegates and office-holders in the 
Indian nations, to dupe the people of the United States, and 
to practice fraud upon their own people. 

It will be seen, by referring to the report of Mr. James Bar- 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 31 

hour, Secretary of War in 1826, that the propositions for a 
territorial bill were the same in substance as those now pro- 
posed, and that the opposition to that bill to emigration and 
to allotment of lands was as universal then as to the bill and 
the allotment of lands now. The House committee report, 
from which we have already quoted extensively, shows that 
this spirit of opposition had not abated, but increased, up to 
1830. The same class of persons opposed it as do now the 
territorial scheme. Let us see who they are and what their 
object is. It is singular that our own time in these matters 
should reflect so perfectly the very causes which caused the 
committee to say : 

" The principal one is the idea of a separate and independ- 
ent State of their own, where they now live. This is the work, 
principally, of comparatively a few, who are either white men 
connected with the nation by marriage, or of those of mixed 
blood, born in the nation, who are well educated and intelli- 
gent, who have acquired considerable property, and through 
the annuities paid by the United States, and by other means, 
are yearly adding to it. This class of people, it is believed, 
do not altogether equal one hundred in number. A very 
small portion of full-blooded Indians can be named who are in 
the like circumstances, or who have much agency in their 
public affairs. 

" Those who are in public en^loy have an influence almost 
unbounded over the nation. They fill all the offices created 
by their laws, and have the entire management of the funds 
derived from every source." 

As the idea of an independent Government of their own was 
a drawback tp their emigration West, so is the same cause pro- 
lific of all the opposition to allotment of lands, a Territorial 
Government, and the farther progress of civilizing influences 
at this day. The same idea now prevails among those who 
wield the politics of the nation, and we have the miserable 
farce of a Government which aborted under its own incon- 
gruities at Okmulgee, December, 1873. The principles of this 
Government were instituted and nurtured under the auspices 
of the Rosses and the Vanns of the Cherokees, the Moores 
and Mclntoshes of the Creeks, and Joseph P. Folsom of the 
Chocktaws. 



32 Political Condition of the Indians 

It was in operation, or it is claimed to have been, for four 
years, the first Council being convened in 1870. The Con- 
stitution drafted by these men looks to an imperium in 
imperio — a thing incompatible with common sense and the 
Constitution of the General Government. However, it was 
only a make-believe from the beginning — they never intended 
to make a Government ; but as long as they could assemble 
and have a good time at the expense of the United States, they 
had no objection to meeting in council. But when certain 
treaty stipulations were pointed out to them, and they were 
required to change their Constitution so as to give the Presi- 
dent appointing power, they prepared a memorial to Congress 
and the President, and adjourned. 

The same committee, in speaking of full-blood Indians, 
say : 

" They are the tenants of the wretched huts and villages in 

the recesses of the mountains and elsewhere, remote from the 

highways and the neighborhood of the wealthy and prosper- 
jj^g * * * * * * * 

" It will be almost incredible to those who have formed 
their opinions of the condition of the Cherokees from the 
inflated general accounts found in the public journals of the 
day, when it is stated that this class constitutes, perhaps, nine- 
teen out of twenty of the whole number of souls in the Chero- 
kee country." 

What the committee here say of the condition of the full- 
bloods in 1830, is true of their condition in 1874. The fine 
reports which are placed upon paper, and put forth as cheer- 
ing accounts of progressive civilization, will apply only to 
half-breed communities. Ignorance is fearfully in the ascend- 
ancy throughout all Indian tribes. The few who manage and 
manipulate the resources of the nation to themselves and their 
friends, are responsible for the untruthful reports which find 
the light through columns of religious journals. The full- 
bloods are poorer and more degraded than they were twenty 
years ago. The business of the country is in the hands of a 
few licensed traders, who make a monopoly of everything 
available. When annuities reach the country, the individual 
certificates are generally bought up, and the moneys never 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 33 

become a circulating medium among the people. No public 
enterprise is carried on that does not subserve the ends of a 
few. Under this state of affairs those who manage the manipu- 
lation — office-holders and licensed traders — are most bitter 
against any change in the status of the Indian. They do not 
want the masses to become civilized, and consequently they 
never suggest any method among themselves by which the 
condition of the full-blood may be bettered. They work upon 
his prejudices, and array him against the white race, and thus 
divert his mind from the swindles they are carrying on. The 
past has shown that this national isolation and the owning of 
land in common, has been the great screen behind which are 
hidden the many wrongs which have been committed against 
them by the trusted of their own people. 

TOPOGBAPHICAL FEATURES. 

The Indian Territory, as a whole, may be said to be a beau- 
tiful interspersion of prairie, woodland and valley, and it is, 
perhaps, this peculiarity, rather than a knowledge of the 
quality of the soil, which has attracted the eyes of travelers 
and given it notoriety, with the appellation of an Eden. 

The elevated rolls of prairie lands, intervened by ravines, 
and skirted here and there with groves of timber, present an 
ever-varied and picturesque landscape, never breaking off into 
abruptness, but presenting new beauties and perceivable 
changes as the eye wearies with distance. A traveler passing 
from a glade of prairie into a seemingly dense wood is soon 
to emerge into other glades, alternating to almost every con- 
ceivable shape — circles, half-circles, oblongs, etc. There are no 
boundless plains, but belts of post-oak timber stretch across in 
every direction, producing that beautiful variety of landscape 
which is the more peculiar in its varied changes. The country 
is traversed in its several sections by high ranges of hills, 
which in some localities attain the altitude of mountains; 
these give source to many large creeks, which, by their con- 
tinual windings, water the country at very nearly equal dis- 
tances, being tributary to the Arkansas, Canadian and Red 
rivers. There is not a scope of country, perhaps, of the same 



84 Political Condition of the Indians 

area on the American continent that can boast of so many 
perennial streams as the Indian Territory, there being not a 
section, within the knowledge of the author, where water- 
power is not available for all kinds of machinery. 

BOTTOM LANDS. 

With three such large streams as the Arkansas, Canadian 
and Red rivers, flowing directly through the country, with the 
many creeks which go to make up their tributaries^ it would 
naturally lead to the supposition that much of the lands was 
of the character of bottom ; but this is only so in so far as 
lowland skirting rivers may be considered as such, for gener- 
ally they are not subject to overflow, and when they are, the 
water remains but a short time ; and while there is a suffici- 
ency of good timber for all practical purposes, the prairie juts 
in on the streams and forms a great portion of what is here 
styled bottom. This alternate jutting in and out of the prairie 
is a beautiful provision of nature against malaria, acting as 
vents to its noxious influences, and thereby conducing to 
healthfulness and purity of climate. 

The timbered and prairie lands are about equally divided, 
and the same character of alternation extends into the hilly or 
mountainous regions. A singular beauty, incident to the 
topography, are the elevated plats, suitable for building sites, 
everywhere overlooking the low grounds. These are generally 
covered with timber, and frequently large springs throw out 
volumes of water sufficient, were it necessary, for irrigating 
purposes. 

In topographical outline the country is naturally susceptible 
of three divisions — a northern, middle, and southern. The 
Arkansas river has its head- water source in Colorado, flowing 
east and southeast through Southern Kansas, and entering the 
Indian Territory a little west of 97° west longitude, water- 
ing its northeastern one-third. 

The Canadian and Red rivers have their source near the 
borders of the Staked Plains. The Canadian runs an east- 
northeast course, near the middle of the territory, to its con- 
fluence with the Arkansas, about flfty miles west of Fort 



And liesources of the Indian Territory. 35 

Smith, while the Red river pursues an east-southeast course to 
its confluence with the Mississippi, far down in Louisiana. 
The Red river divides the Indian Territory from the State of 
Texas. These three rivers form the divisions referred to above. 
North of the Arkansas river lies a strip of Creek country, 
and more than three-fourths of that of the Cherokees. 

East of the Arkansas river to the Grand — this region com- 
prises many fertile tracts of both wooded and prairie lands, 
which are unequaled for farming or grazing purposes, the 
greater part of which is yet uncultivated. 

West of the Arkansas, to the 100° of longitude, and south 
to the Canadian and down this river to its confluence with the 
Arkansas, constitutes the middle division, while all south of 
the confluence down the Arkansas to the western line of the 
State of Arkansas, thence south to Red river and up to the 
100°, and north to the Canadian, composes the southern div- 
ision. 

The basis of description in these divisions will be mainly 
in the order of the reservations as first assigned to the five 
nations, without reference to the occupancy of small tribes to 
certain sections since the boundaries were determined. 

The extreme northwestern portion, formerly known as the 
Cherokee strip, was purchased by the United States and set 
apart under treaty stipulations for the occupancy of such tribes, 
or parts of tribes, as might be persuaded to move there un- 
der the present policy of the Indian Department. This por- 
tion is not so diversified by prairie and timber as are other tracts 
lying farther east ; there are places, however, where excellent 
farms could be made, convenient to wood and water. The 
high, rolling prairies are composed of good soil, and by hedg- 
ing could be utilized and made equal in point of comforts to 
those better provided for by the hand of nature. Extensive 
plats occur between the high, barren ridges, which are pro- 
tected from the cold, biting winds of winter. These are really 
pastoral lands, and instead of being a wild waste of wilderness 
should give pasture to extensive fiocks and herds. 

A PASTORAL LAND. 

Viewed as a pastoral land, the Indian Territory, from its 



36 Political Condition of the Indians 

eastern to its western, and from its southern to its northern 
borders, may be said to be one vast pasture, intersected here 
and there by river and by creek, by prairie and by woodland^ 
affording unequalled facilities for winter and summer grazing, 
where sheep, cattle and horses can be raised at a nominal 
expense, when compared with States and Territories lying 
north, where the severity of winter require ample provision of 
forage and shelter. When we recollect that but a few years ago 
vast herds of buffalo roamed over and drew sustenance from 
its luxuriant herbage, and the unknown ages of their periodic 
wanderings, we may well calculate that its resources in this 
respect are unbounded. The wooded parts of the country are 
generally open, and tall, rank grass grows as freely, shaded 
by the forest, as where it waves in the light and breeze of 
prairied expanse. Now, as in days agone, when the Indian 
had no home, but pursued an erratic life, the grasses grow 
almost in the undisturbed luxuriance of those primitive days. 
(The many streams which meander through prairie and 
woodland permeate moisture through the porous soils, and 
when other lands are parched and dry from the heat of a sum- 
mer sun, the herbage of the Indian Territory waves in the 
dews of the morning "and carpets the earth with verdure.) 
The climate is mild and healthy, frost being rare after the 
10th of March or before the 20th of October or the middle of 
November, and then often so light as not materially to injure 
the grass, which remains green nine months in the year. Toward 
the latter part of November it dies out, but is, nevertheless, 
not impaired in nutritive qualities; and, when prairies are not 
burned, stock keep in good order the year round, and require 
little attention, save collecting and branding in the spring. 

WINTER RANGE. 

The winter range, aside from the dried grass, is excellent. 
In ravines and the bottom lands which skirt the various 
streams and rivers, a species of wild rye is found growing, 
which attains the height of five or six inches; this commences 
its growth early in the fall and remains green until late in the 
spring. Cane is also abundant in the large bottoms of rivers and 



And Resmirces of the Indian Territory. 37 

many of the smaller streams. This is quite succulent, and, as 
it remains green both summer and M'inter, stock betake them- 
selves to it when the first cold blasts of winter begin, and seem 
loth to leave it for the tender grass which shoots up in early 
spring on the prairies. 

Another article of winter food, of which stock are very fond, 
is the fruit of the Bois-d' Arc, or Osage orange ; the tree grows 
wild nearly through the whole extent of the Territory, both 
on upland and in bottoms, but attains a larger size on lowlands 
than uplands, making a tree two to four feet in diameter, and 
fifty to sixty feet high. The fruit is larger than the largest 
size apple, and contains a great many seed, which, together 
with the pulp, is very nutritious. Cattle, hogs, horses, and 
sheep fatten on this fruit alone. 

The wood of the Bois-d' Arc is of a bright yellow color, 
extremely hard and compact, and is not susceptible of decay. 
It is used for making wagons, fence-posts, and for other pur- 
poses. The seed are taken from the fruit by machinery, dried 
and sacked for shipment, to be used for hedging purposes, and 
are a resource from which a considerable revenue may be 
derived, averaging in market from ten to sixty dollars per 
bushel. 

The winters, as we have said, are generally very mild, yet 
there are times when stock need shelter to protect them from 
northers, which rarely fail to make their appearance several 
times during the winter months. There are winters without 
snow, yet it sometimes comes, and during the prevalence of a 
norther, may remain on the ground several days, though fre- 
quently only for a few hours. 

Provision of forage or shelter is seldom made for stock 
during the winter months, and, were it possible to keep fire 
from the prairies, forage would scarcely be necessary ; even 
under present circumstances they invariably come out in the 
spring in fair order. But however this may be, the want of 
provision is a piece of carelessness which causes breeds to 
degenerate, and the stock-raiser who is alive to his every 
interest ; will find that a little care and attention to this matter 



38 Political Condition of the Indians 

will foot up a pretty fair per cent, to compensate him for his 
trouble when market day arrives. 

The cattle raised in the Indian Territory are rated superior 
to Texas cattle in Western and Eastern markets, being short 
and bulky, while the Texas-raised are long, big-boned and 
thin- muscled. This diflference is due, perhaps, to some climatic 
influence, for no sooner do we cross Red river than these dis- 
criminating characters become apparent. 

BHEBP. 

Sheep thrive and do well. The high prairie lands, and the 
hilly regions where there are interspersions of timber and 
prairie, seem eminently fitted to their nature, and as no dis- 
ease has ever prevailed among them, losses from other causes 
would be inconsiderable. There are as yet, however, but few 
of these animals in the country, sheep-raising being a species 
of enterprise which has received but little attention, as cattle 
require less care and are more profitable in a small way. 

HOGS. 

Of these animals there are considerable numbers. No par- 
ticular care is taken of them — being marked and turned out to 
shift for themselves. In winter they get fat on oak and pecan 
mast, and are generally slaughtered in the woods. The Berk- 
shire and Chester white are the most approved breeds. 

Before the late war a majority of the citizens throughout 
the entire country were possessed of large herds of cattle, 
sheep and ponies. At that time cattle could be counted by 
thousands on the prairies where now they cannot be counted 
by hundreds. Many were driven off or consumed by the con- 
tending armies, and during the four years of war very little 
attention was paid to stock of any kind. On the return of 
peace, however, a new energy seemed for awhile to infuse the 
people, and a bright future seemed to dawn before them ; but 
unhappily the war had left them impoverished in everything 
save their stock. The war had alike its influence upon the 
Northern and Southern States, and the stock regions of both 
had been extensively drawn upon, consequently the demands 
of these sections were considerably above the supply, and the 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 39 

Indian Territory and Texas were called upon to supply the 
deficiency, and a brisk trade was opened up between these 
sections. 

Texas, however, retaining her state rights, put her cattle 
upon the market and received money in lieu, and prospered ; 
but the Indian Territory, in its detestable isolation, enveloped 
with a tyrannical Intercourse Law^ stood at the mercy of mon- 
opolists. By this intercourse law free trade was barred, and 
the trade fell into the hands of a few favored sharpers, who 
established cattle stores at various points, and said to the 
people, as Joseph said to the Egyptians when their money was 
gone, " Give your cattle ; and I [we] will give you for your 
cattle, if money fail ; " and thus, for inferior goods at exhorbi- 
tant prices the country was frittered of its only available re- 
source left by the ravages of war. 

Previous to the war considerable interest had been taken in 
improving breeds, and good stock was introduced from Ken- 
tucky, Illinois and Ohio, but, through neglect and from other 
causes, these have degenerated, and the stock now on hand is 
inferior in breed and size. 

FBUITS AND VEGETABLES. 

There are few plants or vegetables of economic value which 
may not be cultivated and brought to maturity in some sec- 
tions of the country. The variety of soils everywhere exhib- 
ited leaves a choice for the dififerent kinds to be produced, 
without the necessity for artificial preparation, and these 
characters, coupled with the medium of climatic influence, 
which is intermediate between the two extremes of northern 
and southern latitude, eminently adapts to that line of 
industry so extensively followed in the Eastern States. 

MARKET FACILITIES. 

The rapid extension of the railway system in the last decade 
to parts hitherto almost unknown has quite reversed the com. 
mercial tide. For a long series of years the productions of the 
Pacific coast found entrance into the interior only by ocean 
and river routes, while those of Texas could only find market 
by the Gulf or by wagon transportation. These obstacles 



40 Political Condition of the Indians 

have now, happily, been overcome, and the steam-power of 
the locomotive is penetrating the heart of heretofore distant 
countries, and bearing, with almost electrical speed, their 
resources to the lap of the interior. The Indian Territory, 
with all its proclivities for isolation, has not been able to escape, 
and two roads have penetrated its wilds — viz., the Atlantic 
and Pacific and Missouri, Kansas and Texas. The Atlantic 
and Pacific enters the northeast corner of the Territory, pass- 
ing through the Shawnee reserve, and running west- southwest 
to Yinita, in the Cherokee Nation, forming a junction with 
the Missouri, Kansas and Texas; thence to be pushed south- 
west-west to a point on the Canadian river, intercepting the 
old Fort Smith and Santa Fe trail, longitude 99°, latitude 35°, 
and thence, with very little variation, from the 35th parallel 
to the Pacific coast. This road, from Yinita to 99° west, will 
pass through a very fertile region. 

The Missouri, Kansas and Texas enters the northern part of 
the Territory a little west of the Nesho river, and pursues 
nearly a southerly course, passing nearly central the breadth of 
the country, crossing Red river near the great overland route 
from Texas to Kansas. 

The cities and towns which have sprung up on these lines 
in Missouri and Kansas, and those in northeastern Texas, to- 
gether with the great city of St. Louis, with her four hundred 
and fifty thousand inhabitants, call loudly for the development 
of the resources of the Indian Territory. Texas has her large 
areas of fine land, but they are of such a nature as not to be 
adapted to the culture of varieties without artifical prepara- 
tion, consequently competition in the raising of vegetables will 
not come from that quarter — rather they will look here for 
their supplies ; so will Kansas and Missouri for their first of 
spring, summer and fall fruits. 

IKISH POTATOES. 

These may be put in the ground as early as the first of Feb- 
ruary, and early varieties may be got to market by May. In 
some instances the potato, without cutting, is wrapped in 
straw, and planted in deep furrows late in October, and left 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 41 

for the winter, and, being ridged up so as to put them below 
the freezing point, small potatoes are formed, and are found 
to be of good size very early in the spring. Throughout the 
entire country they attain to a large size, and when planted 
early require but very little culture, as they are generally of 
thrifty growth, and mature before grass and weeds become 
troublesome, which are then allowed to grow as protectives 
from the heat of the sun. 

SWEET POTATOES. 

The proper way to plant these is to bed them out early in 
the spring, protected by a cold-frame or some covering, and, 
when danger from frost is passed, to draw slips and set them 
out, either in ridges or in hills. Sweet potatoes are exten- 
sively cultivated by the Indians, many thousand bushels being 
raised annually. 

ONIONS, RADISHES, ETC. 

Onions may be sown in drills quite early, say in February, 
and if properly cultivated will attain a large size by the latter 
part of July. Radishes, peas, beets, and other hardy vegeta- 
bles, may be planted quite as early as onions. Cabbages thrive, 
and are not subject to disease as in Eastern States. The early 
varieties which may be grown are the Little Pixie, Cannon 
Ball, and Winningstadt. Mr. James J. H. Gregory, seedsman, 
Marblehead, Massachusetts, particularly recommends the lat- 
ter variety for sandy soil, and where it has been tried in this 
country it has, in every instance, proved a success. The 
Marblehead Mammoth is also an excellent variety for late 
planting. 

With comparatively mild winters, and a long, growing 
period, it will be seen that every vegetable and plant which 
may be desirable can be grown here at very little expense or 
trouble. 

NATIVE FRUITS. 

The native fruits are grapes, plums, strawberries, blackber- 
ries and persimmons. The summer variety of grape is large 
and of excellent flavor. The vine embraces two species — one 
a low bush, growing on post-oak ridges, and the other climb- 
4 



42 Political Condition of the Indians 

ing, growing on hills and in bottoms. These vines fruit nearly 
every year, demonstrating the fact that it is really a grape- 
growing country, and will vie with any other in this respect. 
The berries enumerated above are excellent, for uncultivated 
fruits. 

The mustang grape is found growing along the bottoms of 
Red river. It is very large and juicy, and makes a very fair 
quality of red wine. 

PECANS. 

Pecan trees compose largely the bottom forests, and bear 
largely every year. The nuts are gathered by the full-blood 
Indians, and sold to resident merchants, who sack them and 
ship to St. Louis to market. 

SPRING RAINS. 

During the early spring months the rain-fall is considerable, 
and continues when it begins, either in March or April, for 
several weeks, very often preventing farmers from preparing 
lands for planting. The difficulty of preparing land, however, 
may be avoided by plowing and harrowing in the fall or win- 
ter months, as there is scarcely a week in these months when 
plowing cannot be done; and the farmer who neglects the 
opportunity then given him will most certainly be behind- 
hand in his crop. 

The following is the report of a committee, authorized to 
report upon the agricultural resources of the Territory, by the 
General Council which met at Okmulgee December 1st, 1870 : 

The committee to whom the duty was assigned of reporting 
upon the agricultural interests and resources of the Indian 
Territory, regret to say that they have no data upon which to 
estimate, even approximately, the quantity of land in cultiva- 
tion within the limits of the Indian Territory. 

The Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, 
Shawnees, Delawares, Senecas, Quapaws, Ottawas, "Wyan- 
dottes, and the confederated Peorias, Weas, Piankeshaws and 
Kas-kas kias, are an agricultural people, and rely upon the 
cultivation of the soil and the raising of stock for a livelihood, 
and the Sacs and Foxes, Osages, and others, are making com- 
mendable progress in that direction. The extent of their farms 
vary from a few acres to two and three hundred, and in one 



And Resoiirces of the Indian Territory. 43 

instance in the Chickasaw Nation, in the fertile valley of the 
Washita, to more than two thousand acres. While there are 
many farms sufficiently large, the majority of them might be 
increased with great advantage. The interest in this respect 
is growing, and since the close of the war to the present time 
there is a marked progress in the general improvement, in 
the buildings and farms among the Indian people. In these 
respects, there is wide room for further advancement, and this 
we confidently expect to witness, whenever the constant agita- 
tions in Congress and elsewhere, which so much disturb the 
security of the people and discourage all their efforts to im- 
provement, shall cease. 

But, notwithstanding all adverse influences, the condition 
of the people is not stationary, but progressive. The idea 
which obtains to a considerable extent, in even otherwise well 
informed circles remote from the homes of the Indians, that 
they live by hunting, fishing and trapping, is entirely errone- 
ous, so far as applied to the nations and tribes enumerated 
above. They are settled and not nomadic in their habits, and 
rely upon the cultivation of the soil for their subsistence. Their 
advancement is not all that we could desire, but is an earnest 
of better things in the future, and shows a susceptibility for 
further improvement, and, with proper efforts, the native 
ability to reach a genuine civilization. A large area of the 
inhabited portion of the Indian Territory is well adapted to 
the use of improved agricultural implements. Their intro- 
duction, as yet, is limited, but, perhaps, equal to what should 
be expected, when it is borne in mind how much men are apt 
to do as their fathers did before them, as their neighbors 
do around them, and as the limited means at their disposal 
allowed. Reapers, mowers and threshers of difierent patents 
are seen in some places, while improved plows for turning 
prairie land and working crops are found in large numbers. 
We would desire to impress the people of the Territory en- 
gaged in agriculture with the importance of giving more 
attention to this subject than is now done. Good imple- 
ments, well and timely used, lighten the burdens of labor, 
impart a real pleasure to employment, and largely increase its 
results. They relieve both man and beast, and directly in- 
crease the value of time by increasing its results. The crops 
which can be profitably grown in the soil and climate of the 
Territory are very nearly all those adapted to a rich soil and 
temperate latitude. Corn is the staple crop, and, even under 
our somewhat defective plan of culture, yields, upon an aver- 
age, from thirty to sixty bushels per acre. In favorable sea- 



44 Political Condition of the Indians 

sons it does well in all portions of the Territory. Wheat is 
not so generally grown as it should be, chiefly, we apprehend, 
because of the scarcity of mills for the manufacture of flour. 
The Cherokees, perhaps, grow more than any nation in the 
Territory. The average yield is about fifteen bushels. It has 
been known to yield as high as forty two. But few farmers 
there, however, prepare the soil and seed it down with the 
care the crop demands. South of the Canadian, and on the 
Arkansas and Ked rivers, and the uplands intervening, cotton 
was formerly extensively cultivated, and was the most valu- 
able crop of that region. We hope to see it again whiten- 
ing large and well tilled fields, and bringing in treasure and 
wealth to our brothers of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Na- 
tions — the Chickasaw crop this year being estimated at five 
thousand bales. Tobacco is extensively grown. 

Of the grasses we need say but a word. Our prairies fur- 
nish all that is now to be had, and all that seems to be cared 
for. Clover and timothy do well, and would even now repay 
their cultivation. Blue grass also succeeds well, and will be 
as much at home in some portions of the Territory as it is in 
Kentucky. Rye and oats do well all over the Territory, so 
far as your committee are advised, a species of the former 
being indigenous to the soil and afibrding excellent winter 
pasturage. Potatoes, beans, beets, pumpkins, upland rice, 
turnips, cabbage, onions, and nearly all garden vegetables, in 
suitable soil and with seasonable culture, grow to perfection. 
In horticulture, with some exceptions, we are lamentably be- 
hind the times. So far as tested, no finer apples are grown in 
the United States than some we have seen from orchards in 
the Indian Territory north of the Canadian and Arkansas 
rivers. Peaches, pears, plums and cherries succeed, while the 
smaller fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries 
and grapes, are to the " manor born." 

Your committee would be much gratified to be the means of 
awakening a general interest upon this subject, and stirring up 
the people more generally to the cultivation of the more de- 
sirable kinds of fruits. There is pleasure in the pursuit, and 
health and profit in the results of horticulture. 

As regards the domestic animals of the Territory, we need 
scarcely remark that stock raising must furnish occupation for 
a large number of our people. It is adapted to their habits, 
and to our climate, and will be the source of the largest profit 
to those who embark in it. The number of domestic animals, 
and the quality of their breeds, have been sadly reduced and 
deteriorated by the war. Large and magnificent herds of 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 4 5 

cattle have entirely disappeared from our prairies, and the ac- 
cumulation of forty years vanished into nothingness. But the 
grass still grows and the waters run, inviting and urging our 
people to untiring efforts to renew their herds of cattle, horses 
and hogs, and flocks of sheep and goats. Money, food and 
raiment, stimulate them to start again in pastoral life, and to 
get the best improved breeds of all kinds of stock that may be 
within their means. 

In conclusion, your committee beg leave to say, that as agri- 
culture and its kindred branches — horticulture and stock rais 
ing — should and must constitute the chief pursuits of the great 
majority of our people, every means in our power should be 
adopted to foster and encourage them. Even now they have 
every inducement to increased care and exertions in those 
directions. Markets are now brought to our very doors, or 
soon will be, by extension of railroads, the increase of travel 
through our territory, and the teeming population that moves 
with resistless activity around our borders. Everything that 
we can produce beyond our own consumption is, and will con- 
tinue to be, in demand. 

The country which we possess, the homes we occupy, are 
our own, and the heritage of our children, by every right 
known and respected of men. Let us diligently improve and 
use them, remembering our own responsibility in the premises, 
and the duty we owe to those who may come after us. Even 
the log cabin is more stable than the lodge set up with poles 
and covered with straw and buffalo hides. The people who 
have homes, and cultivated fields and orchards, are more secure 
from intrusion and aggression than those who have no fixed 
residence or abiding place. Here is our only home, and in it 
we must thrive and increase, or dwindle and perish. Either 
result is largely within our own control. As we choose to 
have it, so will it be. 

THE CHEKOKEE NATION. 

The Cherokee Nation embraces a strip of country which 
extends from the western lines of the States of Arkansas and 
Missouri to the 2Q'^ of west longitude, having Kansas on the 
north and the Choctaw Nation on the south, separated by the 
south Canadian and Arkansas rivers. It embraces an area of 
3,844,712 acres, and has a population, according to the census 
for 1872, of 1 8,000. This nation was greatly devastated during 
the war, and the improvements generally throughout the 



46 PoUtioal Condition of the Indians 

country are new, and give a character of thrift and enterprise, 
contrasted with the dilapidation presented in other nations 
that were not subjected to the ravages of the contending 
armies. 

The eastern half of the strip lying north of the Arkansas 
river partakes in some degree of the character of western 
Arkansas, especially in its geological configuration, being a 
continuation of the carboniferous period, largely developed in 
"Washington and Benton counties. Striking oflP, however, from 
the State line, the prairie scope increases as we approach the 
west, divesting it of its irregularities, and gradually assuming 
a level. This was once the most populous and thriving por- 
tion of the Nation, and is noted for its pine forests and bold, 
rushing springs. The soil of the arable lands is of good 
quality, and is well adapted to the raising of corn and wheat. 
The yield of wheat per acre for 1873, throughout the Nation, 
according to the Cherokee Advocate^ was twenty-two bushels. 
This region, in the production of fine fruit, vies with western 
Arkansas and Missouri. The apple crop is generally quite 
large, and many hundred bushels are transported by wagon to 
Texas, and sold at remunerative prices. The bottom land 
bordering the Arkansas river is similar in character and 
quality of soil to that described on the Choctaw side. It is 
eminently fitted for cotton, and though the present production 
of that material is small, its culture will one day be the great 
source of wealth of this region. 

LEAD ORE. 

Out-crops of fine-grained sandstone, alternated with flints 
and blafis of limestone, are characteristics of the hilly portion. 
A species of black marble is also common, and admits of fine 
polish. As might be expected from the character of the geo- 
logical surroundings, lead ore has been found, but as there are 
no laws which encourage mining enterprise, it is undeveloped, 
and, whether in quantity or not, it is forced to lie as so much 
dead material. Coal is also found in several localities, and 
surface indications are favorable for large deposits, but as yet 
no enterprise has been started, except a few blacksmiths' shops 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 47 

which require its use, and being removed from any public 
thoroughfare, it is a resource for future development. 

The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway cuts the western 
half of this northern strip, passing through the most fertile 
portion. Here are emphatically the farming and grazing 
lands of the Cherokees. Belts of excellent timber skirt the 
numerous streams which go to make the larger tributaries of 
the Arkansas. Adjacent to these streams, and sometimes run- 
ning up to their very banks, are level strips of prairie, as 
beautiful as eye ever beheld. These strips partake of different 
varieties of soil, yet all exhibit a superior degree of fertility 
by heavy growths of grass. Comparatively a small portion of 
this extensive region has been put under cultivation. Some of 
the more enterprising of the natives, with the assistance of 
white labor, have tolerable farms, and corn and wheat suffi- 
cient for home consumption are raised. The great dependence 
of the people, however, as in the adjoining nations, is their 
stock, a pastoral life according with their nature, and is not 
many removes from the primitive customs of their fathers. 

MINERAL EESOUECES. 

In addition to coal and lead, already mentioned, the mineral 
resources of this northern district are somewhat numerous and 
valuable. In different localities are found large beds of sul- 
phuret of iron, or pyrites, which have undergone a process of 
oxidation, and have been converted into the sulphate, or green 
vitriol of commerce. This is extensively used by the Chero- 
kee women for dyeing purposes, and is considered not inferior 
to that which is chemically prepared. 

Salt springs are numerous, and works are carried on which 
supply home consumption. Petroleum occurs, and from 
analysis has been pronounced of good quality, but no attempts 
have yet been made to develop it, owing, perhaps, to the 
large supplies thrown upon the market from Pennsylvania. 
Quarries of limestone and sandstone abound, and, in conse- 
quence of their easy access, are used throughout the ceuntry 
for various building purposes. The immense quantities of 
workable stone so universally distributed have been a means of 



48 Political Condition of the Indians 

inducing many of the Cherokees to learn the trade of stone- 
masons. 

CANADIAN DISTRICT. 

This a large scope of country, lying between the Canadian 
and Arkansas rivers. On the cessation of hostilities between 
the North and South, this part of the Nation was mainly occu- 
pied by the Southern Cherokees, so designated from the fact 
of their having taken part with the Southern States. The 
land here, as might be expected from its position between two 
large rivers, is mostly bottom. The soil is very rich, being 
composed in great part of vegetable mold. The degree of 
of cultivation is somewhat inferior, but, in spite of all adverse 
circumstances, the yield of corn is generally an average of forty 
to fifty bushels to the acre. 

Situated, however, immediately within the cotton-growing 
belt, it is quite likely that, with the facilities now offered by 
railway for quick freighting, that its dense forests will soon 
give way to the culture of this product. Large farms could be 
made here at small expense, and if other than the present 
system of holding lands in common was in vogue, a few years 
would soon give this region a different aspect than that which 
it now presents. 

The Arkansas river is navigable to Fort Gibson, and from 
this point down to a point opposite Fort Smith, Arkansas, a 
river front is presented on the north side, while on the south 
side a front is presented to both rivers. The Canadian is navi- 
gable, however, only a few miles above its mouth. 

It will be seen from this description that the Cherokee coun- 
try, though not so broad in area as some of the other nations, 
nor yet possessed of so many mineral resources, is, in its agri- 
cultural qualities, not inferior ; and were it not for its prohibi- 
tory laws, which, in a great measure, keep the people from 
making that progress they otherwise would if left to their own 
free choice, it .would, from the impetus already given it by its 
geographical position, stand first as an agricultural and stock- 
raising region. Those beautiful flats which skirt the various 
streams, and those miniature valleys lying between the prairie 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 49 

swells, are of immense value as farming lands ; and tract after 
tract, vieing in fertility with the best of lands of other coun- 
tries, skirt the Verdigris, the Grand, and the Caney rivers, 
besides, back in the interior and among the flinty hills, nature 
has with profusion spread her fertile plats. These features, 
together with natural advantages derived from river naviga- 
tion, added to facilities now offered by lines of railway, should 
be incentives to development, and the old policy, which was 
prejudicial to enterprise, should no longer find place among 
a people so capable of advancement as the past and present 
have shown the Cherokees to be. In a word, they have re- 
sources without stint, which have only to be developed to 
increase their wealth. 

CREEK AND SEMINOLE COUNTRY. 

Occupying the middle division, between the Arkansas and 
Canadian rivers, are the Creek and Seminole nations. The 
Creek reservation is computed at 3,215,495 acres, and that of 
the Seminoles at 200,000. 

The principal water courses which border and pass through 
these nations are the Arkansas, Little Kiver, and the North 
and South Canadian. Each of these streams gives large scopes 
of bottom lands, which are unsurpassed for fertility. The 
timber along these streams, and generally throughout the 
country, is plentiful and of excellent quality. Within no 
country is there a more equal interspersion of prairie and 
woodland than in this, and, being intersected with numerous 
small streams at diflferent points, it is highly desirable as an 
agricultural and pastoral land. The whole country, extend- 
ing from 96° to 99° west, is arable, and seems, by its very 
nature, to invite tillers of the soil. The Creeks have no very 
large farms, but their productions are wheat, corn, and rice. 
The Canadian and Little River bottoms are wide, and the soil 
is a deep, mulatto mold. In the western portion is a vast 
deposit of gypsum, which, where it borders the Canadian, 
forms vast bluffs, and is the prevalent formation of a consider- 
able area of country. The eastern one- third of the country 
developes very largely the carboniferous period. Fine-grained 



50 Political Condition of the Indians 

sandstones crop out in many localities, and are of excellent 
quality for building purposes ; besides, there are large deposits 
of coal in different localities. 

Along the Verdigris river, and throughout the western part, 
the geological formation is tertiary, of the miocene period, 
characterized by marls, silicious matter, limestone, and sand- 
stone, alternating with clays and gypsum. The banks of the 
Verdigris contain imbedded the remains of large mammals, 
the deposit being so great at some places that they could be 
taken out by the ton. 

CHOCTAW AND CHICKASAW DISTRICT. 

This section of the Territory embraces the highlands and 
valleys lying between the Arkansas, Canadian and Red rivers, 
and extends in length from the western line of the State of 
Arkansas to the ninety-eighth degree of west longitude. Be- 
ginning near the one hundredth degree of west longitude, the 
high table-lands, as they extend in an easterly direction, gradu- 
ally decline into a range of hills, which traverse the country 
nearly central from west to east, and form the great divide 
between the bottom lands of these rivers. Arising from the 
south side of this range are the large tributaries which flow 
into Red river, the most noted of which are the Washita, the 
Boggys, the Blue and the Kiametia rivers ; those from the 
north side of the range flow into the Canadian and Arkansas. 
The equal and almost uniform course of these streams, running 
parallel with the range and the rivers into which they empty 
on either side, affords to the country a constant and never- 
failing supply of water. In view of this fact, and the peculiar 
composition of the soil, and mildness of climate, this district 
may be styled the great cotton belt of the Territory, for there 
is not an acre of tillable land which will not produce the 
average bale. It has been mentioned that the great peculiarity 
of the Territory is the equal interspersion of prairie and tim- 
ber. Here this characteristic is beautifully represented, and 
gives alternately an easy and regular transition to every variety 
of soil, adapted to the growth of every variety of vegetables, 
plants and cereals. In one section we have the black, waxy 



A9id Resources of the Indian Territory. 51 

soil 80 universal and highly prized in Texas, and immediately 
adjoining it we have the black sandy loam, the rich red loam, 
the mulatto mold, and the yellow sandy soil. This diversity 
is a resource of itself of incalculable value, adapting it to the 
culture of articles which, when the country is fairly settled and 
utilized, will not inaptly entitle it to the appellation of a 
" Garden Spot." 

Having spoken above of the natural divisions of the coun- 
try by a range of hills, and the course of streams, it will, per- 
haps, accord better with our general plan to enter somewhat 
into detail. The Canadian and Arkansas rivers form the 
northern boundary, separating the Choctaws and Chickasaws 
from the Creeks and Cherokees. All south of these rivers is 
Choctaw and Chickasaw territory. The land bordering these 
streams, and running out to what we have styled the divide, 
is bottom, and second bottom. The characteristics of the soil 
of the first bottom are that it is porous, very deep and very 
rich, being composed in great part of decomposed vegetation. 
The Canadian river takes its rise in high, gypsum bluffs, and 
its waters are ever freighted with the fertilizing material which 
in its inundations it has been depositing for innumerable ages. 
Added to this is the calcareous and arenaceous matter derived 
from the disintegrating rocks capping the high divide. Here 
we see a provision of nature afi'ording an inexhaustible supply 
of those chemical ingredients which have of late years come 
into general use as valuable fertilizers for the worn-out lands 
of the Eastern and Middle States. Fine belts of timber skirt 
the main streams and their tributaries, composed of oak, ash, 
walnut, hickory, pecan and cottonwood. These belts are, how- 
ever, interrupted by alternations of prairie jutting in on the 
streams. 

The soil of the second bottom on the Canadian is largely 
composed of mulatto mold, while that of the Arkansas is 
varied, no particular kind predominating over the other, par- 
taking mostly of the qualities of the rocks that cap the high 
grounds of the difi'erent localities, showing conclusively that 
deteriorating causes have been at work for a long time, which, 
together with large deposits of decomposed vegetation from 



62 Political Condition of the Indians 

the forests, has been made into a compost by the agencies of 
nature's laboratory, preparatory to its utility by the hand of 
civilization. The mulatto soil of the upper Canadian is in 
many places intercalated with seams of gypsum, while in iso- 
lated localities large beds are known to exist. 

THE GYPSUM BELT, 

Where it begins on the Canadian, is about fifty miles wide, 
being embraced, according to Capt. Marcey, U. S. A., in the 
degrees of 99° and 100° of west longitude. It also occurs on 
the middle, and north, and south forks of Red river, within 
the 101° and 103° of longitude, and is here about one hun- 
dred miles wide, the thickness of the deposit being from ten to 
fifteen feet, and varies in quality from a coarse plaster of Paris 
to a pure selenite. The small streams and gulches of this belt 
go to form, in great part, the head water-source of these main 
streams, and carry the detritus of this material, together with 
that of plants and animals, to the plains below. It will be 
gathered, from what we have said regarding this natural 
source for keeping up a supply of fertilizing material, that it 
is inexhaustible, and that those great drawbacks to farming 
will never exist here as in other countries, where large ex- 
penditures are required for artificial manures. The valley of 
the Canadian, as well as that bordering the Arkansas, is 
sparsely settled — a few isolated farms, with here and there a 
stock-ranche, are all that remind us that its dreary solitude has 
ever been broken by the march of civilized man, excepting 
the eastern neck adjacent to Fort Smith, Arkansas, bordering 
the Poetau and Arkansas rivers. Here the country is toler- 
ably thickly settled, and many large farms are kept in a high 
state of cultivation, the principal productions of which are 
corn and cotton, the average yield of the former being from 
fifty to sixty bushels to the acre, that of the latter from a bale 
to a bale and a half. 

The south side of the dividing range admits of the same 
classification as that lying north — viz., bottom and second bot- 
tom, but difiering in respect to variety of soil, growth of tim- 

Commencing with the 



And Besources of the Indian Territory. 53 

" Leased Country," a strip lying between the 98° and 100° of 
west longitude, ceded to the United States by the Choctaws 
and Chickasaws, in 1866, the present home of the Comanches, 
Arrapahoes, Wichitas, and Kiowas. The timber here is con- 
fined to the banks of the streams, and is composed of cotton- 
wood only. The soil is porus, and would be very productive 
for small grain and cotton. It supports a heavy growth of 
luxuriant grass, and is the spring and fall range of the vast 
herds of buffalo while in transit to and from the State of 
Texas. Here, isolated from any similiar surroundings, rising 
from the naked plains, are 

THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS, 

forming vast peaks of flesh-colored granite, several hundred 
feet high, running through which are veins of quartz and por- 
phyry. From this range of mountains rise many springs of 
pure, fresh water. Otter Creek, an affluent of Red river, rises 
from this range ; its banks and bed are strewn with quartz and 
porphyry, and here have been found several specimens of gold. 
The author has seen one specimen, weighing half an ounce, 
which was taken from the bed of this creek. Copper ore is 
found in many localities, sometimes in seams in the sandstone, 
and at others in detached pieces, with the debris of granite, 
iron nodules, and scoriaceous rocks strewn over the surface. 
This country, however, with that portion of the Choctaw and 
Chickasaw proper, reaching to Forts Sill and Arbuckle, is as 
yet comparatively a terra incognita. 

It has suited the purpose of the author to begin at this 
western limit and approach the borders of civilization, rather 
than the reverse order, mainly that the geological features 
might be embodied with the descriptive. The disturbing 
forces which caused the upheaval of the Wichita Mountains, 
in the centre of a vast plain, also exerted their influence in 
causing the peculiar formation extending through the Chicka- 
saw and Choctaw country to the Hot Springs in Arkansas, 
being analogous to that exhibited in the States of Alabama 
and Georgia. 

Beaver Creek, Otter Creek, Cache Creek, and Wichita 



54 Political Condition of the Indians 

river are all affluents of Eed river. The valleys and low, flat 
plains of this upper region are extremely fertile, the soil being 
a dark loam, intercalated with gypsum and disintegrated gran- 
ite. A great peculiarity of this 

GRANITE BELT 

is, that it forms the surface rock the whole length of the 
country, and ranges in width from ten to twenty miles, dip- 
ping in different places to give place to formations belonging 
to the carboniferous and cretaceous periods. It is accompanied 
by iron-stone and gray silicious sandstone, which seem to have 
been exposed to a very high degree of heat. What may have 
been the extent of this granite formation can only be guessed, 
when we find it in a state of rapid degradation, but still cap- 
ping the ridges to the height of one and two hundred feet, and 
strewn over the plain in huge boulders of many tons' weight. 
The soil composed of this material is coarse and porus, and is 
equal in productiveness to the valleys and bottoms skirting 
the rivers. 

The country bordering the Washita river, in the immediate 
vicinity of the Cross Timbers, is low and flat, and bears the 
same character of topography for many miles, which being a 
favorite resort of the Kickapoo Indians, has obtained the 
name of 

KICKAPOO FLATS. 

The soil here is very dark, and averages about two feet in 
depth, and denotes fertility by a heavy growth of grass. The 
timber on the Washita is good, that of the Cross Timbers is 
low and scrubby. Here begins the Chickasaw settlements, 
composed mostly of stock ranches, having from a few hundred 
to several thousand head of cattle. A few miles below these,, 
and south of the Washita, comprising many thousand acres, is 

Paul's valley, 
Justly celebrated for its fertility and large farms. Smith Paul, 
the gentleman from whom the valley takes its name, has a 
farm of sixteen hundred acres. In close proximity to his are 
many others of fifty, one and two hundred acres, all of which 
belong to natives, but are mostly cultivated by whites. The 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 55' 

products of this valley are corn, wheat and cotton. The corn 
supply of Forts Sill and Arbuckle has been drawn from this- 
region since 1866 ; besides, it has furnished many thousand 
bushels to the interior of the country. The yield of wheat 
for this year (1873), being the first ever sown, was twenty- 
eight bushels to the acre. No cotton has been planted until 
this year, and as it has not yet come into market the yield is 
not known. Several hundred acres were planted, however, 
and prospects are good enough to justify the erection of several 
gins. From this point down to the confluence of this river 
with the Red, the bottom is from four to eight miles wide, and 
the soil is of the same characteristic red loam. The timber is 
a heavy growth of wild china, oak, ash, pecan, hickory, Cot- 
tonwood and walnut. There are a good many settlements on 
this stream, but the farms are small, and the thrift and enter- 
prise of the people are very mediocre, compared with those 
higher up the valley. 

A short distance above Paul's "Valley, in the red clay, is an 
extensive deposit of green copper ore, accompanied with dark, 
feruginous sandstone. The geology of the region lying south 
of the Washita, and bordering the Red river, partakes both of 
the carboniferous and cretaceous formations, as determined by 
fossils peculiar to each. South of Fort Arbuckle, pursuing a 
south southeast course to within a few miles of the mouth of 
the Washita, rises a high range of hills, capped with limestone, 
with a sandstone base, interrupted occasionally by vast pro- 
trusions of granite and other igneous rocks. As usual, this 
granite is of a red color, and is crossed with veins of quartz, 
exhibiting minute veins of gold, and is everywhere accom- 
panied with feruginous sand, agate and iron nodules. Along 
these ridges, and in many places on the low grounds, especially 
in the neighborhood of the oil region, are found great quantities 
of silicified wood. The silicious sandstone exhibited in this 
section is a very compact and durable stone, and crops out in 
some places specimens of that beautiful variety known as 
novaculite, so extensively used for making whetstones. 

KOCK OIL, OR PETROLEUM. 

This substance abounds in many parts of the Territory,, 



56 Political Condition of the Indians 

flowing to the surface through crevices of various rocks. It is 
of a thick, yellowish green color, and will at some future day 
be of commercial value as a lubricating oil. 

The deposit in this locality is the most extensive and impor- 
tant in the Territory. The surface indications at Gov. Col- 
bert's, about fifteen miles southwest of Tishomingo, indicate 
that a large deposit may exist. The oil flows to the surface 
through shale and crevices in silicious sandstone. 

Some two years ago this region was visited by some Yir- 
ginia gentlemen, who thought favorably of the surface indica- 
tions, and at once proceeded to organize a company, composed 
of St. Louis capitalists and Chickasaw citizens, under the name 
of " Chickasaw Oil Company ; " but owing to a law of the 
Chickasaw Nation, prohibiting a lease of lands, nothing was 
done toward development, and excitement on the subject 
quieted down. Recently, however, a new company has been 
formed by the same parties, and the name changed to " Okla- 
homo Mining Company." 

This company has now a well in process of boring. The 
depth attained is about four hundred feet. The slate and shale 
passed through are found to be completely saturated with oil, 
and prospects are favorable for a large supply. In different 
localities, especially where limestone forms the surface rock, 
il exudes from the ground in the form of maltha or mineral 
tar, and forms extensive incrustations of asphaltum. The 
country surrounding this oil region presents the appearance 
of having been subjected to considerable convulsive disturb- 
ances. The hills are mostly cone-shaped, and break off very 
abruptly into vast perpendicular walls of compact non-fossil- 
iferous limestone, slate, and silicious sandstone. In some 
localities the sandstone stands upon edge, and is crisped and 
fissured, and seems to have been brought to a stand-still while 
in a state of oscillation, while large nodules of iron ore, having 
the appearance of slag, are strewn over the surface. 

About ten miles southeast of Colbert's the oil-stone is 
abruptly broken off, huge boulders of granite taking its place. 
This is of a red kind, and is composed principally of quartz 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 57 

and mica. South of this boulder irruption the country 
clianges, and the oil-6tone, accompanied with shale and lime- 
stone, again makes its appearance. Along the Washita and 
Red river the oil reaches the surface through the medium of 
Bprings. These, together with those at Colbert's, are much 
resorted to during the heated season by the people of Texas, 
for pleasure and for the medicinal qualities of the waters, 
which contain, with the oil, both iron and sulphur. 

riCKENS COUNTY, 

Lying between the Washita and Red river, is confessedly the 
stock and farming region of the Chickasaw Nation. With 
the exception of the high ridge, described in the preceding 
page, this county is low in its topographical character. The 
soil is generally a rich alluvium, made up of gypseous particles 
and other disintegrations from the high regions above. The 
population of this county is very small compared with its area, 
yet the people are enterprising, and pride themselves in hav- 
ing large farms — the majority have from two to six hundred 
acres in cultivation. The principal products are corn and cot- 
ton. The highest prize offered for Indian cotton by the St. 
Louis Fair Association was awarded to the citizens of this 
county in 1872. It is estimated that the amount, of land in 
actual cultivation would not fall below twenty thousand acres. 
The land below the mouth of the Washita, embraced in Panola 
county, is similar in productiveness and general character to 
that of Pickens, and so on through the Choctaw Nation bor- 
dering the Red river. The timber, however, as we descend, 
extends its growth over a large area of country, and improves 
in quality as well as kind. Those growths, not heretofore 
enumerated, being cedar, pine cypress, and sugar maple. 

In delineating the character of different sections, I have 
endeavored to be as explicit as possible, by designating each 
by some particular landmark peculiar to the locality, and in 
the general description I have given in outline the most char- 
acteristic of geological features. There yet remains, however, 
a large portion of country which, though largely developing 
the carboniferous and cretaceous periods, is so peculiar in its 
5 



58 Political Condition of the Indians 

abrupt transitions to other irruptions of rocks of still older 
ages as to require separate notice. I might, in a general geo- 
logical description, have characterized the country as belong- 
ing to the carboniferous, interrupted at various points by pro- 
trusions of other formations, both palaeozoic and igneous ; 
but a scope of country so large as that which I shall describe, 
east and west of Caddo, a town situated on the Missouri, Kan- 
sas and Texas Kailroad, certainly deserves to be designated as 
a separate formation. To the west of this town it extends 
about thirty miles, and to the east about one hundred, with 
an average width of twenty-five. This is cretaceous, and is 
very rich in its fossil remains. The soil is the black waxy, 
and supports a heavy growth of grass and wax-weed. The 
limestone exhibits itself in several varieties on the Blue, and in 
the region around old Fort Washita it is composed of an 
agglutination of gryphea, constituting the gryphitenhalk of the 
Germans. In other places it lies in horizontal strata, and is 
a bluish gray variety, and emits a bituminous odor when struck 
with a hammer. This is a very compact and durable stone, and 
may be used for flagging and other purposes. The great char- 
acteristic of the formations throughout this country, however, 
are the vast boulders which are everywhere exemplified, vary- 
ing from rolls of a few pounds' weight to blocks of tons. The 
characteristic fossils are gryphea, cardixim porulosum, various 
species of spatangus, helemyiites, ammonites, terebratula, dior 
demia, pectens, encrinites, spirifers, and plicatula. 

Occupying a scope of country lying between Blue river and 
Clear Boggy, at a point six miles northwest of Boggy Depot, 
is a long ridge, extending to the source of the above-mentioned 
streams, characterized by its abrupt transition from the granite 
belt to sandstone and limestone of a highly crystalline texture, 
alternating with variegated slates. This formation seems to 
illustrate perfectly the Transition Formation of the older 
geologists, exhibiting, with the exception of trilohites, all the 
varieties of fossil shells peculiar to the Cambrian, Silurian and 
Devonian systems, such as lithuites, orthis orbicularis, pro- 
ductus, spirifer, lesebratula, and polyparia, of the genus 
cyathophyllum and catenipora. 



And Resources of the Indian Territory. 59 

The granite belt, of which we have frequently spoken, dips, 
near Boggy Depot, to give place to that extensive area which 
we have designated cretaceous. At the point where this dip 
is made, rocks of the permeon group abut against the granite 
and cretaceous. Here, flowing from the base of the granite, are 
several salt springs ; immediately surrounding are cone-shaped 
hills of iron ore. This ore resembles clinkers or slag, and ex- 
hibits a bright metallic lustre when broken. 

The larger area of the country belongs to the carboniferous 
or coal-bearing limestone. The universal distribution of this 
stone throughout the country renders it a valuable resource, 
both as a building material and for making lime. The great 
interest which, however, attaches to this region are the ex- 
tensive 

COAL FIELDS, 

which, no doubt, are co-extensive with those of Iowa and Mis- 
souri. There are out-crops in the Cherokee and Creek coun- 
try, but they are not so numerous as in the Choctaw Nation. 
It may be that the coal deposit is quite as extensive there as 
here, but, if so, it must lie at some depth below the surface. 
The local disturbances which everywhere seem to have been 
active throughout the coal period, as is exhibited in the Choc- 
taw Nation, has brought it to the surface, and it is found laid 
bare in the prairies, as well as in the banks of streams and 
high bluffs. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway, imme- 
diately after it crosses the South Canadian river, cuts through 
a vast coal field the whole breadth of the Choctaw Nation. 
Several mines are now being worked at difl^erent points on 
this road, the veins averaging from two to seven feet in thick- 
ness. The coal is of a heavy, bituminous quality, and when 
burned makes but very little clinker. Overlying the coal is 
generally found a stratum of clay or slate, of about a foot in 
thickness ; underlying the vein we again come to slate, and it 
is very probable that beneath this second stratum a greater 
deposit will be found, and of still better quality. The coal 
region of the Choctaw Nation comprises an area about fifty 
miles wide by one hundred in length- 



60 Political Condition of the Indians 

LEAD ORE. 

Throughout the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, in the 
hilly regions, are out-croppings of lead ore. South of Fort 
Arbuckle a very good quality of ore is found in the limestone 
ridges. Near Stonewall, in the vicinity of the Canadian, an 
argentiferous galena accompanies the quartz and sandstone. 
In the centre of the Choctaw country it is found in ridges of 
blue limestone, and farther east the surface indications are 
very extensive for a very pure galena, which can be melted in 
a common ladle as easy as bar lead, and is extensively used by 
hunters for making bullets. Still farther east, bordering the 
Arkansas line, where the mountains rise to a considerable 
height, and where the formation is principally quartzoze sand- 
stone, argentiferous galena is very plentiful, and will probably 
pay the working for the silver it contains. 

EXTENSIVE COAL BASIN. 

Having occasionally made mention of deposits of coal im 
several localities, it may not be out of place to give a more 
extended description of the vast area which these deposits 
underly, especially when we note the rapid extension of the 
railway system in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas — 
States which respectively form the northern, southern and 
eastern boundaries of the Territory, each of which have rail- 
ways in process of building, converging to as many difierent 
points in the Territory, striving to avail themselves of treaty 
stipulations providing for lines through the different Indian 
Nations, it being universally known that the Cherokees, Creeks 
and Choctaws have each given permission for right-of-way for 
roads running east and west and north and south. 

The completion of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas road has 
fulfilled the stipulations relative to the line running north and 
south, as it cuts through the Territory of all the above-men- 
tioned tribes ; but those for east and west lines provide for 
two roads — one entering the northeast corner of the Territory, 
which is the Atlantic and Pacific, already in process of build- 
ing, and running to Yinita in the Cherokee Nation. This- 



And Besmirces of the Indian Territory. 6-1 

road has also a branch in contemplation which will pass 
through the northwestern counties of Arkansas and enter the 
Choctaw Nation south of the Arkansas river near Fort Smith, 
continuing in a southerly course to Paris, Texas. Another road 
from Little Rock will enter Fort Smith and strike across the 
Choctaw Nation from east to west, south of the main Canadian 
river. This network of railways will intersect at different 
points a region of country which has hitherto been of difficult 
approach, and consequently little known. A knowledge of 
the out-cropping of coal in various sections of this immense 
region has long been known to the Indians, but as they had 
no means of utilizing it, it has remained a resource of no im- 
portance. An idea has been prevalent among scientific men, 
to whom a knowledge of its existence has become known, that 
the deposit was simply tertiary, inferior in quality, and of no 
commercial value ; but in thus hazarding an opinion without 
personal observation they have committed a grave error, or 
have done so to divert attention from it, lor in no country is 
the carboniferous age more perfectly developed than the sur- 
roundings of this basin. Every fossil and every rock which is 
found is indicative of the true coal period. 

Following the course of the true coal, as laid down in geo- 
logical surveys of the States of Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas, 
we find, as we approach the borders of the State of Arkansas 
and the Indian Territory, that the physical indications, instead 
of gently breaking off, abruptly increase, forming extensive 
mountain ranges, composed of blue and gray limestone, and 
quartzose sandstone, giving outcrop to beds of iron ore, lead 
and coal, the same physical configuration being continued to 
the Red river, with the single exception of the protrusion of 
the granite belt, and the dip to give place to the cretaceous 
strip elsewhere mentioned. 

Occupying the western one-third of Arkansas and the east- 
ern one-third of the Indian Territory, we have a coal basin 
not less than two hundred miles in length by one hundred 
and fifty in width, which, when railway connection is made, 
will supply the States and cities on either side of the Lower 



"62 Political Condition of the Indians. 

Mississippi, besides the greater portion of central and north- 
western Texas. 

When we look at the immense area of the State of Texas 
alone, embracing 237,321 square miles, and capable, by its 
•agricultural and stock resources, of supporting a dense popula- 
•tion, yet almost wholly barren of carboniferous material, we 
can form an idea of the immense value of this vast storehouse 
■of coal lying upon its northwestern border, already made 
available by railway connection, which, when the trade is 
fairly opened up, can be supplied by car loads. 

This basin includes the whole area of what is now the Choc- 
taw Nation proper, in every part of which there are extensive 
outcrops of coal, the veins ranging from two to seven feet in 
ithickness. 



I^I^IOE, 50 OEINTTS. 





The Political Condition of the Indians 



-AND T H E 



mn or m mi imm 



By J. H . MOOR E 




ST. LOUIS: 
SOUTHWESTERN BOOK AND PUBLISHING COMPANY 

510 AND 512 WASHINGTON AVENUE. 
1874. 







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